


Take A Stroll

by Felix_27



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-02-18 05:15:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 77,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2336582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felix_27/pseuds/Felix_27
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artie goes away for the weekend. He should really not do that. A strange Warehouse mishap keeps the gang busy from enjoying a weekend off of their own.</p><p>Sort of a sequel to my previous story Illustrated Misdeeds but can stand alone for the most part.</p><p>Post Season 5.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a word vomit here:
> 
> The reason I say this is sort of a sequel to Illustrated Misdeeds is that the tone of this story will be very different, this will be less introspective to a degree and less angst, it's very much a story of hijinks with some feelings, because of course, and maybe a scare or two with a bit of a mystery, but it's more mayhem kind of fun being explored in this story. I don't want the tone of this one to throw people off in comparison. But the basic idea is that a lot of time has passed, people have worked out their issues and everyone is at the Warehouse post season 5 which is why it can work as a stand alone too, there's only a few references to my previous story. 
> 
> As well the chapters will be pretty long so hopefully most of you enjoy that kind of thing.
> 
> And again, I don't own the characters of Warehouse 13 .

>   
>  "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so." - Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  
> 

Claudia Donovan only had a select number of people that were her favorite in the whole wide world. She was very fortunate that for the most part her favorites were usually all in one place, her brother and sister aside. It was a wondrous thing to have everyone where she felt they were supposed to be, all under one roof, and she knew from the frequent scent of apples in the air, the Warehouse was very happy about this marvelous thing as well.

It had been a year of healing, of missteps, of mild setbacks but more importantly, a year of joy and happiness.

Not to mention a bit of group therapy here and there, followed by several vacation days for one Abigail Cho. 

There was definitely work involved in gaining and maintaining that happiness.

The point being that yes, things didn’t always run smoothly but they ran all the same and when they ran the smoothest of all Claudia couldn’t be more proud of her makeshift family of misfits.

But maybe, it was far more significant to note that when things did start to trip up, a little to a lot, her family always came back stronger.

No one ran away.

No one stopped the rhythm of communication that had been built and settled between them all.

No one attempted to start an ice age. (Not saying anyone in particular.) Really, it could be anyone.

The point was, everyone was where they were supposed to be and Claudia was the most thankful she could be.

But even she could admit there was a fine line.

The Island of Misfit Toys wasn’t always made for sing-alongs and The Most Wonderful Day of the Year. 

And after this weekend of events, she found maybe it was her who was going to need a few vacation days. Maybe she was wrong to think boundaries were for cowards.

Because she loved her Warehouse family, she really truly did, but after the last two days she felt she had seen and heard way too much of some of her favorite people.

Her eyeballs had logged data she wished she had never been privy too.

She was unable to wipe the new information from her hard drive.

And in order for her Warehouse family to remain some of her faves, space was an important and healthy notion to factor in.

There was a beach somewhere in Mexico calling her name.

Space. Just a little every now and then at least, in moderation.

Space….maybe she could find H.G’s old rocket blueprints and take a vacation to space itself to wipe her memory.

Artie didn’t need to know the specifics of her trip.

Artie didn’t need to know a lot of things.

A lot of many, many, many things.

Dear God, sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many things.

Too many.

Things that weren’t kosher at all.

The man’s heart had been through enough already.

 

**Roughly forty-eight hours earlier:**

Claudia liked to think of herself as an electrical surgeon from time to time, a doctor of sparks and wires, a technological stitcher of sorts. Such labels gave a sort of flare to her tinkering. She very much enjoyed the intricacies and the care of her work. It wasn’t often that she found time to indulge in her hobby of late. She enjoyed the chance to use her hands, to find the peace that settled inside of her as she got to work in such a way. There were a lot of things that were starting to fall to the wayside with her crash courses in Warehouse Caretaking history. But now was not the time to focus on that train of thought. 

No. Definitely not.

For a steady hand was needed. 

Knowledge was to be handy and gained.

And tools, tools were an absolute must and needed her sole focus. 

Perched precariously on the top of a very tall ladder as she repaired one of the screen panels of a logged artifact located on a top shelf somewhere in the depths of the Warehouse, she was very aware of all of these things. It was vital she hit only the right wires behind the panel.

She wanted to take care of her baby so to speak, or her potential baby. She wouldn’t let the Warehouse despair, even the little things.

The smell of apples hit her out of nowhere and she smiled. “Ah, so you are appreciative of what I’m doing. Thought so.”

She inhaled the fruity air eagerly. “Well, good, because there are other things I could be doing with other people, but know I have made you a priority. You and me, we’re a team on our own.”

She may have been laying it on a bit thick, she truly did enjoy the work but she also wonder what the rest of the gang was up to. Probably their own little projects as well if there had been no pings. But she had her work right in front of her and it was important to focus.

There were tasks at hand. 

It was imperative she use the right screwdriver to secure everything back in place, the right screwdriver that had somehow rolled over almost to the other edge of the shelf and off into a new aisle.

“Hey, where do you think you are going little fellow?” She stretched her arm across the dusty shelf, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth as she tried in vain to have her fingers grow a few more inches. She pulled her arm back when it was apparent she was not going to succeed in appendage growing. “Fine, be that way,” she threw out at the inanimate object that really could not pick up on her annoyed tone. It was currently being very useless.

Her gaze traveled down the very long ladder that she knew was locked in place by artifact powered means, but she really doubted if she were to step on the very last rung and attempt a reach that way she wouldn’t fall to her death.

Attempting one more time from her current safe position, she stretched her arm out across the wood mindful of keeping the bare skin of her hands away from the artifacts, and just when she thought her socket might pop, the tips of her fingers touched the handle of the screwdriver.

“There we go.”

Then her armpit hit the edge of the shelf with a hard jerk as she stretched and everything wobbled dangerously for a few seconds and she slipped, her hands gripping the shelf and ladder wildly, her left leg swinging off of the rung and as she fought to get purchase again.

“Whoa.”

She pulled herself up on the shelf and ladder and got both her feet back in place and held her breath. Instant relief hit her for both being alive and seeing that none of the artifacts had moved or crashed. But then it was a rolling sound that caught her attention and she cried out just as the screwdriver rolled further away from her and disappeared over the edge.

“Aw, no!”

The sound of the screwdriver hitting the floor echoed around her after a beat.

She sighed as she started to shift back down the ladder. A dejected mumbling that was very familiar in an Artie type fashion that began to tumble out of her mouth as she went on her way. Half way down the ladder she could see under a shelf the view of the traitorous screwdriver sitting all by its lonesome on the floor on the other side of the aisle. Footsteps started to approach down the very aisle and a smile broke out on her face as she recognized the gait.

“Myka!” she called out. “Hey, Myka, can you-“ but then she trailed off as she noticed Myka appeared to be focused on something else entirely, the clipboard in her hand seemed to be of more importance, her steady walk was brisk and single-minded, she hadn’t even looked up at Claudia’s yell.

Claudia tried again. “Myka!”

But nothing, Myka didn’t even look up at her once and then the other woman was gone, her footsteps drifting off down another aisle.

“She had to have heard me,” Claudia mumbled to herself. “I’m not that high up. It’s not like I’m beyond the stratosphere.”

And everyone said Myka was the observant one, but apparently put a clipboard of itinerary in front of her or one H.G. Wells and everything else fell to the wayside. The latter she could figure out but the first was a kink she could never understand.

“Whatever,” she continued to talk to herself under her breath. “I’ll just do everything myself. It’s fine. It’s better this way. I am the lone wolf.”

Her grumbling caught her for a second and her hand fell against her chest. “Okay, that was even too Artie for me.” She took a steady breath. “Remember you are still a young, hip, early twenty-something who will not let the prospect of Caretaker turn you into a cankerous old man with eyebrows that can be classified as their own ecosystem.” She closed her eyes and exhaled. Her eyes opened wide. “Did I just say, hip?” Her face fell into a grimace. “Oh, god and I’m still talking to myself. Nope! Stop!”

She looked down at the rest of the way to go on the ladder and took a chance and put her feet out to the side and slid right down all the way and landed on her feet with a solid triumphant shout. “That’s right, the knees of youth still, woohoo!” She shook her head. “Stop talking to yourself!” she reprimanded herself and then nodded once and began to head down the aisle to pick up her wayward screwdriver.

Rounding the corner and heading down the next aisle she didn’t notice the change in the air until she had reached down and picked the tool up. She looked around side-to-side and sniffed. The strange smell of ozone hit her, a metallic twang that filtered up her nose. 

“Huh,” she remarked and leaned over towards one of the shelves. “Anything sparking here?” She shuffled across and looked around the other side but every artifact was sitting dormant in its place. 

Tilting her head she gazed up at the ceiling but the air was still and there was no buzzing energy swirling above her.

She sniffed again but then the smell was gone. Still, she eyed the shelves around her but nothing moved or made a sound. Absently she twirled the screwdriver in her hand as she walked up and down the aisle.

The whirring noise of her Farnsworth went off and caught her attention. She slipped the sleek case from the back of her pocket and opened it to find Artie’s frowning face looking at her.

“What are you doing?” he barked. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

“Ummm, upgrading the faulty log screens like a good little worker bee.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not supposed to be doing that, I assigned that job to Pete.”

“Yes, but I wanted to do it. And what does Pete know about wiring anyways, besides the belief you should always cut the red wire, even though that has nothing to do with-”

“Weren’t you supposed to be meeting with Mrs. Frederic?” he interrupted as his eyes narrowed.

She sighed. “That was yesterday, we don’t meet every day to talk gossip in the no boys allowed, especially boys named Artie, tree house.”

“I’m sure Mrs. Frederic would love to hear you speak of your time together in such a way.”

“Hey! How do you know there’s not a tree house? You don’t know all the Warehouse secrets.”

He leaned in towards the screen. “I know there’s no tree house, I know because- No! Wait! I don’t care! Can you please just come up to the office. Immediately.”

Claudia smiled. “Of course. That I can do.”

“Good. Make it fast.” And with that he cut off communication.

“Oh, Artemis, don’t ever change,” she murmured to herself as she closed the device. And really, she truly did hope that in a lot of ways, their relationship, the dynamic wouldn’t change when the day came that she was to be the new Caretaker. Her stomach did an odd flip at the thought and she swallowed dryly as she looked up at the shelves around her. 

She placed the screwdriver on a free space of the first shelf by her. “Now, you stay here and be a good boy.” She tapped the tool lightly and watched as it didn’t dare roll away and then she shuffled down the aisle and towards the office.

“You are not only talking to yourself but inanimate objects,” she said as she went. “I doubt Mrs. F talks to these shelves. No matter how long it has been.” She shook her head at the thought.

 

When Claudia arrived at the office she first noticed that Steve was sitting by the computer and petting Trailer absently as the dog nudged him every few minutes from below his chair. Pete was leaning against the desk as he tried to read whatever was up on the computer screen over Steve’s shoulder.

“This isn’t annoying at all,” Steve murmured.

“Why would it be annoying?” Pete shot back. “I’m just making sure you get all the details correct in your write up from our last mission together.”

Steve tilted his head back with an incredulous look of surprise. “How professional of you?”

“You said that like you aren’t sure,” Pete replied with a frown.

“Because I’m not.”

“Hey, Mykes,” Pete called across the room and Claudia saw Myka raise her head up from where her and Helena were sequestered in the corner around the small table. Loose papers were spread out in front of them and Helena leaned in and whispered something to Myka and then Myka smiled warmly and her focus was immediately drawn away. Pete carried on anyways. It was a tactic they had all developed, you just had to continue and hope information was filtering through the bubble that seemed to form around the two. “Tell Jinksy, here, about how professional I can be. Back me up.”

“Pete is a professional,” Myka replied, even as her eyes were roaming over a paper Helena was holding up in front of her. “I am backing him up.”

“See,” Pete intoned as he nodded at Steve.

“You can see how I might not find that a ringing endorsement,” Steve countered. “It lacked-“

“I am willing if need be to sign papers stating the professional level of one professional known as Pete Lattimer and a second set of papers stating the professional level of my back up,” Myka interrupted even as her focus never wavered. Helena slipped another set of papers in front of them and Myka began to nod earnestly.

Claudia was trying to hold back her smile when Steve recognized she was in the office and he rolled his eyes at her.

“Again, see,” Pete stated.

“Fine,” Steve replied and threw his hands up in a sign of defeat. “What do you professionally suggest I add to the report?”

Pete dramatically leaned over him and squinted at the screen for a few seconds and then said, “You spelled ruggedly handsome wrong right before my name.”

Claudia thought she saw Steve’s left eye twitch.

“I didn’t even write the words ruggedly handsome before your name,” he replied calmly even as the left eye twitched again.

Pete pulled back and finally gave his fellow agent a bit of space. “I know that’s the problem.”

Claudia swore the right eye was going to twitch next but then Steve took a deep breath and everything settled on his face, the calm he coveted playing itself out.

“You can’t be serious?” Steve asked.

Pete looked at him with what was a very serious look. “Mykes?” he called out again.

“Sounds like a very professional problem, you should consider it, Steve,” Myka replied on cue and Claudia was impressed as at that moment Helena was pushing a loose curl of Myka’s back behind her ear.

“Sometimes…” Steve began and then trailed off.

“Sometimes what?” Claudia jumped in as she sauntered further into the room and bent down to give Trailer a scratch behind the ear.

“Lots of things,” Steve murmured.

“Sometimes lots of things?” she echoed back.

Steve rolled his eyes and called over his shoulder, “You know, Myka, sometimes, I think you’re the one I have the most in common with, that you’re the reasonable one and then you get on Pete’s wave length and it is truly a-“

“Beautiful thing,” Pete jumped in with a wink.

“I was going to go with disturbing.” Steve shrugged.

“It’s more of a gift,” Myka replied and again Claudia stood in awe as Helena blatantly whispered something towards Myka with barely any space between her lips and Myka’s skin.

“It’s more of an honor,” Pete added.

“A professional honor,” Myka threw in and tried to hide her growing smile on her face unsuccessfully. Even Helena’s own lips twitched up in a discreet smile.

“Myka!” Steve exclaimed, his voice only rising halfway, the closest he ever got to shouting as he spun around in his chair to face her. “Maybe you should be going on more missions with Pete, like say, all of them and leaving me to my unprofessional peace.”

“Oh, do relax, Steve,” Helena finally spoke up. “It will do your health wonders not to bothering dissecting Myka and Pete’s dynamic and just let it be.”

“She speaks from experience,” Claudia supplied. “We all do.”

“Besides did Pete save your life at any point on your recent mission?” Helena asked as she looked at him across the room.

“What?” Steve blurted out. “No, it was an easy snag, bag and tag. What’s that got to do with anything?”

Helena nodded and then caught Myka’s gaze. “Then I believe the standing rule is one only inserts the words ruggedly handsome before Pete’s name in the report if he saves your life on that particular mission.”

Myka nodded and sighed dramatically. “That is the rule. Fairs fair, Pete.”

Pete shrugged at her across the room. “Okay, that is true. You may continue on your own, Agent Jinks. No professional input needed this time.”

“Thank you…” Steve trailed off as he spun back around towards the computer.

“That sort of sounded like a question as well,” Pete said. “Are you even sure of anything? How can you be positive I didn’t save your life?”

Steve locked his gaze with Pete. “The thing I am most sure of right now is something you probably wouldn’t want to hear out loud.”

“I hear what you are saying even though you aren’t saying all of it,” Pete said with a smirk and another wink before moving away from the desk and finally giving Steve some more breathing room.

Claudia leaned down towards Steve. “You really make it too easy for all of them.”

“Claudia, the day I know all the ins and outs of these people, is the day you can put me out to pasture. I prefer to remain naïve about certain unofficial protocols and agent habits.”

“Aww, but you love us, you know you do.”

“I do,” he replied with a nod and a smile. “But that doesn’t mean I want to know everything and fall too far down the hole of that mayhem.”

“That’s so boring though. You’re only going to be able to go so much longer in believing you aren’t an important factor in this mayhem.”

“Well maybe I’d enjoy doing these reports better if they got to be about the second ‘A’ team every now and then. That kind of mayhem.” He said it with a warm smile and still Claudia felt that odd turning in her stomach.

“I miss the second ‘A’ team too.”

“Hey,” he said softly, his eyes searching hers. “I didn’t mean-“

“What? No, it’s fine, Jinksy. It’s all good.” She pushed his chair in closer as she tried to distract from the tone that had slipped into her voice. “Now get to work, you know how Artie likes his t’s dotted and his i’s crossed.”

Now it was Steve’s turn to address his frown at her. “That doesn’t-“

“And don’t forget the accent on the e’s.” Pete leaned in from out of nowhere.

Steve went very still.

“Uh, back up, back up right away, Pete,” she said as she started to back up and pulled him with her. “We don’t want all that zen exploding everywhere.”

“Ew,” Pete remarked.

The two of them gave Steve a remarkable amount of space and he simply went back to typing at the computer. 

Pete crouched down in the center of the room and called Trailer over and started to mock-play fight with the dog. 

Helena slipped out of her chair, her hand trailing across Myka’s shoulder before heading towards the side alcove filled with archives.

Claudia crashed into the other seat beside Myka. “So what’s got you so interested you didn’t hear me earlier?”

Myka looked up from a sheet of paper and blinked at her in confusion. “I’m sorry, what? Earlier when? I’ve been here-“

“Oh, Claudia, dear,” Helena interrupted as she came out of the alcove. “You’re sitting on one of my drawings.”

“What?” Claudia looked down on the seat of her chair and saw a piece of white paper peeking out from under her thigh. “Oh!” she exclaimed and sat up as she grabbed the paper and smoothed it out. “Sorry.”

“No harm done,” Helena replied with a half-smile as she reached out for the paper.

Claudia glanced at it and turned it upside down and up again, trying to figure out what exactly she was looking at.

“You’re going to make yourself dizzy,” Myka said with a soft laugh.

“What is it exactly?” Claudia squinted her eyes as she held the paper out as far as she could and then finally handed it to Helena.

“This…” Helena began as she herself squinted at the drawing. “This is my idea for the new battery life upgrade for the durational spectrometer, quite possibly we would be able to get another hour or so out of its memory, maybe more.”

“And Artie approved this?” Claudia half-laughed in disbelief.

“Yes, I believe it was his idea.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes…way,” Helena replied and Claudia caught Myka shaking her head back and forth. “What?” Helena directed at her.

“Nothing,” Myka replied with a smirk.

Claudia knew that Artie was an entirely different person now when it came to H.G. Wells, he actually treated her like an equal, he was less questioning of her methods and he hadn’t even raised one bushy eyebrow when Myka and Helena had gotten together officially. Hell, she’d even seen Artie and H.G. playing a few games of chess now and then without any blood drawn. And Helena was very much considered the repairwoman of the Warehouse, she was afforded a lot more time for her inventing and even had a lab in the Warehouse that Claudia was fortunate enough to work in when she had time. Her and H.G. had only blown it up twice since its conception and it had been sixty-eight days since there had last been a small incident, a tiny smoke fire that had been contained immediately, so their track record was good but she was still surprised at the thought that Artie would let H.G. upgrade any of the gadgets he’d been using for years.

She couldn’t help but recall his freakout when she’d tinkered with her Farnsworth.

“What is it, Claudia?” Helena asked with concern.

“Nothing, I’m just surprised that’s all. Artie’s always been finicky about his baby gadgets.”

“Finicky is putting it nicely.” Helena smiled at her. “But yes, apparently he had been attempting to fix things himself and it didn’t go so well.”

“He damaged the durational spectrometer himself?”

“Yes, and when he asked me to fix it, it occurred to him perhaps things could be improved upon.” Helena threw her hand out towards the table at the rest of her papers. “These are just a few of my ideas. Nothing has been approved further.”

“Oh…” she responded.

“You know, if you have time, I would very much appreciate your input. Artie asked me to start on it right away yesterday and you were…well I’m sure we could only benefit from your knowledge.”

“Of course. I’d love too.” Claudia beamed at her.

“Aces,” Helena nodded back at her.

“That is a grand idea,” Myka threw in as she stood up and passed a few more pieces of paper into Claudia’s hands. 

“Aren’t you helping her?”

Myka smiled at her, her head tilted to the side at an amused angle. “I was listening intently.”

“Which is very helpful,” Helena added with a tone that implied listening intently was indeed the most beneficial thing anyone had ever done in the entire existence of humankind.

Myka leaned in and kissed the corner of Helena’s brow. “That is very kind of you but I’m sure Claudia is more equipped to carry on with the growth of this project.”

Helena tilted her head up towards Myka. “Does that mean you no longer wish to listen…intently, at all?”

“I didn’t say that.” Myka smiled back. 

“God, you two make me sick,” Claudia droned but there was a smile spreading on her face as well. “And I’d love to help out. Plus, can’t wait to see the expression on Artie’s face when he knows I know he messed up the durational spectrometer.”

Helena blinked in sudden shock. “Oh, yes, shoot…I do believe I was supposed to keep that off your radar.”

Claudia mimed zipping her lips and then pulled a small corner back and mumbled, “I’ll try and not shove that part in his face. Just for you, H.G.”

“Thank you,” Helena replied.

Claudia unzipped her lips. “Well, it’s the best I can do, I mean it’s no…listening intently levels of-“

She was interrupted as Myka reached over and grabbed a pile of papers and proceeded to hit Claudia on the head lightly with them.

“Hey!” Claudia playfully yelled back.

“Yes, let’s try not to crease my work, darling,” Helena added as she grabbed the papers from Myka with careful fingers.

“They are fine, Helena, you know I think highly of your-“

“Oh, my god, I’m going to be sick again,” Claudia droned.

Myka was clicking her tongue against her cheek as she smirked at her. “All right, you two may continue. Don’t blow anything up.” She slipped by them and walked over towards Pete. Helena watched her as she went, her eyes tracing every movement Myka made.

“You’ve still got it bad,” Claudia whispered towards Helena. 

She looked back at her in surprise. “You speak as though I am meant to be cured of it.”

“Never.” Claudia nodded at her. “I would rue the day that happened.”

“As would I.”

“Well now that we’ve settled on the agreement of rueing, where is Artie? He asked me to come here and if I’m supposed to not know about the durational spectrometer, maybe we should clean this up.”

“I believe he is upstairs, he should be down in a moment.” Helena began to pile up her papers and inserted them into a folder that sat innocuously on the table. 

“He still feeling under the weather?”

“I cannot say, to begin with it was a little hard to even tell he had a cold the past few days with the amount of cold medicine it turned out he was ingesting. He was very…hyped and jittery and less out for the count.”

“I don’t think the amounts were Dr. Calder approved.”

“And you know how silly he is, refuses to admit it and pushes off any bed rest and-“

Claudia raised her eyebrows. “That’s a bit of the kettle calling the pot black, don’t you think?”

“I have no idea of what you are referring too,” Helena replied noticeably just a tad indignant. 

“Hey, Myka!” Claudia called over her shoulder, her eyes still on a challenging H.G. Wells.

“Yes?” Myka replied as she tossed a ball in the air for Trailer.

“The Flu Incident this past Christmas.”

She waited a beat and then came Myka’s response. “A trying time for all.” Her tone was one filled with a Shakespearean flare of despair. 

“But wasn’t H.G. the only one who got sick?” Claudia asked, pretending to be perplexed as she half-turned around. Helena now raised her own eyebrows up at her.

“Again, a trying time for all.”

“I beg your pardon,” Helena began as she leaned over to look at Myka past Claudia’s shoulder.

Pete jumped in from his position on the floor, his voice a horrible attempt at an English accent. “Darling, it is but a slight fever, I do not need to rest, please allow me to reconfigure the Christmas lights on the tree, it is but no bother, I am fine, and these one set of lights keep flickering weakly and I shall fix them readily…” he paused for dramatic effect and was not perturbed as Helena glared at him. Myka was trying to cover up her widening smile. 

“Five minutes later when everyone left the room for some crazy reason,” he said in his own voice and then continued with his English accent, “Myka! I may have miscalculated and if you could be so kind to retrieve the fire extinguisher immediately and does anyone else see the Ghost of Christmas Past in the corner doing a jig?”

Myka utterly failed at hiding her laughter and tried to cover for it by giving Pete a slight incriminating nudge with her leg when Helena started to glare at both of them.

Even Steve snickered from his spot by the computer.

“I remember things differently,” Helena huffed.

“That would have been the fever,” Steve threw in.

“Pete, I believe Steve requires some professional assistance in typing up his report,” Helena countered.

“Is that right?” Pete said with a sly smirk in Steve’s direction.

Steve raised his hands up but didn’t turn around. “Nope, nope, I’m good and however H.G. remembers things that’s good as well.”

Claudia reached out and lightly tapped Helena’s arm. “You stop that H.G., you know Steve is still intimidated by you, be nice.”

“It’s a healthy intimidation,” Steve called over. “I’m totally okay with it. It’s good.”

Helena raised one eyebrow up at her. “See, it is…all good.”

Pete groaned. “It just sounds so wrong when you talk like that.”

“Yes, well everything you say is-“ Helena was interrupted as an anxious Artie came running down the spiral staircase in a hurry.

“Good, you are all here,” he barked as he came to a stop before them, a small travel bag clutched in his hand.

“What’s the rush?” Claudia asked.

“We have a ping?” Pete followed up as he stood up beside Myka.

Artie adjusted his glasses on his face and squinted at all of them. “No ping.”

“The rush then?” Claudia inquired.

“No rush,” Artie replied and then awkwardly smoothed down his jacket.

“That was a tick,” she added.

Pete leaned in. “That was totally a tick.”

“What?” Artie blurted out as he ran his hand through his hair uncharacteristically.

“I saw that tick from over here,” Steve added as he got up from his chair and shuffled up beside Myka. They were now all observing a very twitchy Artie in a half circle of judgment.

“Is that gel in your hair?” Pete asked and everyone squinted their eyes at Artie and tilted their head to the side in observation.

Claudia stepped forward and sniffed the air around his hair. “I think he used conditioner.”

“Ohhhhhh.” Everyone intoned without missing a beat.

“Did he forget to wash it all out?” Pete asked.

Artie swatted her away. “Stop smelling me. Everyone stop looking at me, why must we always do this every time!?”

“Every time?” Helena said. “That implies…”

“Hmm,” Myka added. “And there was the shower.”

“The nervous energy,” Helena said.

“Is it anticipation I’m sensing?” Pete added.

“The jacket without any holes or artifact burns.” Claudia held her hand under her chin.

Artie was now glaring at them all.

“Are we forgetting the overnight bag?” Steve asked.

“Good observation, Jinksy.” Claudia nodded and clapped her hands. “So where are you and Vanessa going?”

Artie sighed. “If I didn’t have to leave a list of emergency contacts for you all and the rules of ‘Don’t’, I would really prefer being able to leave without doing this every time.”

“Not going to happen.” Claudia tapped him on the shoulder and then pretended there was fluff on his jacket and rubbed it off. “This is always too adorable. It’s so good you two kids were able to work things out and are trying again.”

“Kids? I think-“

“You should just give us a heads up earlier, Artie,” Pete said. “Let us work on some better teasing before hand. Refresh our material. It’s better for you and us. Make it feel like a different experience …every time.”

“Enough!” Artie yelled. “Yes, Vanessa and I are going away for the weekend. She unexpectedly got some time off and so we will be making the most of it.”

“Awwww.” Everyone went.

“You don’t still have the sniffles?” Claudia asked. “Don’t want to be passing those cooties onto the doc?”

“Next time, I am going through the backdoor,” Artie huffed out as he raised his gaze up towards the ceiling.

“Hey, now, we don’t need to know about your and Vanessa’s-“ Pete was interrupted as Myka slapped her hand over his mouth and laughed nervously. “Honestly, Artie we are all happy for you.” She leaned in and whispered to Pete, “Do not finish that sentence.” Pete nodded quietly and she removed her hand slowly.

“Thank…you.” Artie nodded at her.

“Why does that sound like a question as well?” Pete said. “Can no one give thanks properly anymore?”

“Did you finish your inventory from this morning?” Artie was back to barking.

“Sure thing.” Pete nodded. “Mykes and I took care of the Physicists aisle and Steve handled the Photography aisle.”

“You didn’t bother to move onto any other aisles if you finished so early?”

Myka, Pete and Steve all shared a look and then shook their heads and started talking at the same time.

“You never said anything about that,” Pete whined.

“I was helping Helena with-“

“I needed to write up my report-“

“Stop!” Artie raised his hand up. “Apparently, it is my fault for not giving you more to do.”

“Aww, come on, Artie, its Friday.” 

Artie stepped closer and leaned up towards Pete’s face. “I believe Friday is still considered a workday…in fact all days of the week at the Warehouse can be considered workdays!”

“Artie, buddy, come on you don’t wanna get all tense before-“

“Pete,” Myka warned.

“You are slipping out early though too…on a workday,” Pete finished weakly.

Artie’s face started to tick all over.

“Pete, Steve and I will start on some more inventory before we go home for the day,” Myka blurted out. “Won’t we?”

“Yah, yah, yah,” Pete mumbled. “I don’t know why you are so cranky, Artie.”

“Withdrawal.” Helena mumbled under her breath and Artie turned down the line to glare at her.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Helena replied with a false air of cheer. “I was just wondering if you were sure you were feeling better and if not, perhaps you should take some more of your cold medicine with you?” Helena smiled charmingly but it was clearly a challenge and they all waited to see if the classic bickering between the two would start. Chess games and repair projects aside, it had not put an end to the sport of arguing the two loved so much. Myka’s shoulders tensed up.

“No, I am feeling better,” Artie replied tersely after a beat and Claudia released the breath she was holding in. She noticed Myka’s shoulders were less ridged. 

The door from the umbilicus opened and Vanessa entered and if she sensed any tension in the room she completely ignored it and breezed in with a kind smile. The air in the room somehow got lighter just by her presence.

“Hello, everyone,” she greeted and then nodded at Artie. “Are you ready to go?”

“Of course, of course.” Artie smiled at her and any previous tension was slowly dispersing. “I was just…” He turned and looked back at them. “You may all leave at five pm today, so that still leaves you…” He paused and looked at his watch. “An hour to get some more inventory done, is that understood?”

Myka, Pete and Steve all nodded quietly.

“I will be back late Sunday and so will Abigail when she returns from seeing her family. If there are no pings, you may have the weekend free but it is not the weekend for another hour so…” He coughed when he noticed his tone was getting crankier and he looked nervously at Vanessa.

“H.G,” he continued with a forcefully lighter tone. “Well you know what you…can be doing.”

Helena nodded and Claudia tried not to smile suspiciously. 

“And you,” He turned towards Claudia. 

“Yes,” she replied.

“Make sure you are around for whatever Mrs. Frederic needs. There is no need to create more things to do, you need to be focusing-“

“Artie, man, enough of the roll call,” Pete butted in. “You’ve got a special lady waiting for you.”

Artie caught Vanessa’s patiently awaiting expression.

“Ah, yes, I know…just…” he coughed and then pointed at both Myka and Steve. “And you two…well you know.”

Myka and Steve nodded in tandem.

“Umm, excuse me, but I am the other senior agent here.” Pete raised his hand up with a little wave and then pointed at Steve and Myka. “And I know what you were just totally implying there.”

“As you are supposed to be a senior agent, I’m glad to know your observation skills are up to par,” Artie grunted with an eye roll.

“What about me?” Claudia threw in, amping the sass up a degree. “I am eventually going to be even more senior.”

“Eventually,” Artie repeated.

“H.G., you aren’t going to complain at the implication he just made?” Pete asked.

Helena shook her head calmly. “I have no desire to be involved in the hierarchy of responsibility.”

Pete frowned. “Okay, strike her words from the record, I forgot, it’s a turn on for her when Myka gets any form of power.” 

“Pete!” Myka hissed, her scowl focusing on him and missing Helena’s sly grin.

“What? I’m only kind of joking and-“

“What record?” Steve asked.

“Children!” Artie interrupted and they all stopped talking and looked at him. Vanessa was looking amused from her position by the door. “Behave yourselves and please, please, please do not contact me unless it is literally life and death and even then, use discretion. I will see you Sunday evening. Do not slack off. Do not cause the Warehouse to blow up-“

“We know the ‘Don’t List’, Artie, go and have fun with your doctor of love.” Pete turned Artie around and pushed him towards Vanessa.

“Thank you, Pete,” Vanessa said.

Artie turned around to glare at him.

“Go on.” Pete waved his hand out in a shooing action and then jerked his thumb towards Myka and Steve. “Mom and Dad will have a handle on things.”

Artie shrugged bashfully at Vanessa. “Sorry for them.”

“You do not need to apologize for them, but if you don’t get out this door soon and we get caught in traffic to the hotel I will be inquiring for an apology then.”

“Ah, yes, I see, let’s go then,” he replied as he opened the door and held it open for her.

“Thank you.” Vanessa walked through the door with a passing wave and called after them. “Take care, everyone.”

A chorus of byes followed and then the two disappeared as the door shut behind them.

“Mom and Dad?” Myka immediately challenged Pete.

Pete shrugged. “It’s basically what Artie was saying.”

“We are not the Mom and Dad,” Steve added as he pointed between himself and Myka.

“It’s not a bad thing.” Pete shrugged again.

Myka and Steve blinked blankly at him. 

“Do I have to explain in all the ways, Myka and I as the Mom and Dad of the group is wrong and not even compatible?” Steve’s eyes widened and Myka looked like she was still thinking the dynamics over.

“It has nothing to do with you know…” Pete trailed off.

“What does that make me?” Helena asked suddenly.

Pete winked at her. “Mom’s hot side piece.”

Helena appeared to think it over but before she could reply Myka spoke up, “I am going to go do inventory before I strangle you, Pete.”

“Such a mom thing to do,” Pete mumbled under his breath and then danced out of the way with a splitting smile on his face when Myka tried to whack him as she headed for the door. 

Myka stopped, turned around and marched over to Helena and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “You are not my side piece, you are my main piece.”

“You forgot the word, hot, darling.”

Myka rolled her eyes and headed for the balcony door again. “You all think sometimes he’s corrupted me the most, but you are just as culpable, and yet somehow I am still the Mom.” She exited the doorway with a shake of her head.

“I can’t deny the effect I have on people,” Pete sighed playfully. “I am a strong presence. Sometimes it even has the power to overcome the Mom factor.”

“That is one way of putting it,” Helena said as she sat back down at the table and opened her folder up.

Steve snorted and Pete glared at him.

“I think there’s many ways of putting it,” Claudia jumped in and Steve smiled coyly at her.

“Come on, son.” Steve clapped Pete on his back a little harder than necessary. “Let’s go finish our work and maybe later I will promise to play catch with you in the backyard.”

Steve started to head for the balcony as well.

“Really?” Pete called after him. “Don’t mess with me, Jinsky. And I swear, you better not tell me you’re ever just going down to the store to pick up a pack of cigarettes.”

Claudia groaned out loud as Pete ran after Steve and they both disappeared. “Man, does Pete need to get some new material.”

Helena chuckled lightly. “How about instead of helping Pete with new material, you can help me with these outlines if you’d still like?”

“I’d love too. Oh!” Claudia slapped her hand against her forehead. “I just need to go finish what I was doing before and clean up my tools and I will be right back here, I promise.”

“Were you doing something for Mrs. Frederic?”

“No, no, I was fixing the malfunctioning log screens, that’s probably something that could use your proposed longer battery life too.”

“We could definitely look into that next when you have time.”

“For sure, but I just need to go clean up, you know what loose tools and forgotten ladders can lead to in the Warehouse.”

“Yes, I believe you may be referring to the snakes and ladders incident a few months ago.”

Claudia shivered. “Don’t remind me. I swear I’m still finding loose snakeskin. I will never accidently use that particular ladder again but still not a good idea to leave my mess around. I learned that lesson after about…the first seven times things went to hell when I didn’t clean up.”

“Only seven? I believe my old teacher Caturanga would be impressed. I was a slow learner in regards to that matter.” Helena smirked at her. “I will be here when you get back.”

“Great! Be right back!” Claudia called over her shoulder as she jogged towards the balcony.

 

Fifteen minutes later and Claudia was back up the ladder, her trusty screwdriver clutched in her hand as she placed the finale screw back in its spot. She hit the side of the panel once and the screen blared back to life successfully.

“There we go Buster Keaton’s hat, now you have the shiny, flashy log you deserve.”

The image started to fizzle and the screen went black again.

“What the?”

She hit the panel and the image burst back onto the screen.

“Good, I know you few guys just needed an upgrade.”

She gathered the rest of her scattered tools and lumped them together in the small toolbox and then began to descend down the ladder. She was halfway down when the metallic smell hit her again. Tentatively, she looked around the aisle from her perch but nothing caught her attention. The lights high above her buzzed and she wondered if perhaps they were acting up but after a moment of staring at them none of them flickered or burnt out and she figured they were fine.

“Huh,” she murmured as she slowly stepped down to the next rung. 

She glanced up again and was frustrated to see the panel start to flicker again.

“Seriously? What now?”

Two voices in the aisle over caught her attention and she peered under the shelf and saw Myka and Pete talking to each other very close together. Questionably close. Claudia frowned as she leaned forward to get a better look.

Pete murmured something in Myka’s ear and Myka smiled back at him. It was a strange sort of smile. It wasn’t so odd in its presentation to be fair, it was a simple stretch of wide lips, normal enough, white teeth flashing briefly, usually how things worked, but it was the execution that was off putting, it was the hidden meaning in the quirk of Myka’s lips, it wasn’t so much a foreign smile just that the smile, the very particular grin Myka was currently beaming was one usually only meant for Helena. There was something far too intimate on Myka’s face and it certainly should not have been directed at Pete.

Claudia’s forehead creased together in confusion and she tried to find a better angle to view the two agents, perhaps she was wrong about what she was witnessing.

And maybe, if what she was suddenly presented with weren’t so peculiar, Claudia would have picked up on the heightened stench of ozone around her before it was too late.

But then Pete leaned in and kissed Myka on the lips and when Myka didn’t pull back, Claudia yelled out involuntarily with an angry yelp, “Hey! What the hell do you two think-“

But neither kissing Pete and Myka looked around at her loud outburst and maybe if she had been able to get the rest of her sentence out they would have picked up on her presence, but a sudden burst of energy sizzled above her and she looked up just as a spike of lightning struck the ladder and blew it to bits. Claudia yelled out in surprise as she fell back and felt the electricity hiss across her skin. 

She barely had time to process everything as she fell and hit the floor hard.

 

Claudia was angry.

Claudia was furious.

She was feeling disorientated on top of those two things as well.

And when she took the time to think about it, she felt like vomiting as well.

She went over the list in her mind: Angry, check, furious, check, disorientated, check, feeling sick due to two agents who had clearly lost their minds. BIG CHECK!

She may have even been sparking a bit but she paid it little attention as she charged through the door to the office. When she had come to on the floor both Pete and Myka had disappeared.

“You!” She yelled out as she lurched into the room.

Four sets of very startled eyes swiveled to focus on her.

“You two!” She pointed her hand out and jerked it at Pete who was sitting at the computer desk and then up at Myka who was standing behind him.

“Claudia,” Myka started, her tone implying concern but she was having none of it.

“Nope! Don’t use that tone with me, not after what I just saw!”

The four sets of eyes were now narrowing in confusion.

“Claudia,” Helena picked up instead from her place by Myka. “Are you all right? You look…”

“Frazzled,” Steve added from his position on the other side of the desk. “And that’s me putting it nicely.”

“Oh, I am unwell!”

“Okay….” Pete drawled, his eyes wide in both shock and concern. “Would you like to tell us why you are unwell so we can…make you not unwell? You are kind of freaking me out, Claud.”

“Is your hair smoking?” Steve asked and then ran up to her, his hands swatting at her hair.

“It’s fine.” She jerked back. “That’s not the problem. Not anymore.”

“It was a problem?” Steve’s concerned expression went up a degree.

“It…is…not…the…problem.” She hissed out of her clenched jaw, her breathing was starting to feel labored.

“Claudia, you need to sit down.” Myka walked over towards her, her hand reaching out with concern but Claudia jerked back. In between the confusion and shock, a look of brief hurt passed across the other woman’s face.

“What happened?” Helena asked urgently, but Claudia couldn’t let herself focus on her.

“I need to talk to you.” She forced out, her head tilted towards Myka and then she jerked her gaze to Pete. “And you. Just you two.”

“Okay.” Myka nodded.

“Uh, I don’t know,” Pete replied. “You are kind of still freaking me out Claudia, you look like you might murder me.”

“Pete,” Myka emphasized the one word heavily as she narrowed her eyes at him.

“What? She does.”

“You two make me sick,” she spat at them both.

“See.” Pete pointed between the three of them. “Not really making me feel any different.”

“And I don’t mean the good sick I meant before with you and H.G., I take it back…I…” she started to gasp a little. “She’s supposed to be your piece.” She jerked her hand away from Myka and then towards Helena. “He’s not supposed to be…any…piece…EVER!” She waved her hand angrily at Pete but then everything started to go blurry.

“Whoa,” Steve called out as he caught her as she wobbled a bit and held her up.

“Claudia, I really think you should sit down and then tell us what happened,” Myka stressed.

She blinked and everything started to come back into focus. “I…I don’t even want to speak of it. I don’t…want to give it…a name. I don’t…want it to have…power.”

“Do you think perhaps whatever happened to Claudia has to do with the alarm that went off?” Helena spoke up.

“What alarm?” Claudia asked as she pulled away out of Steve’s grip.

“We don’t know,” Myka replied carefully. “Security system started going off with an alert and then it was saying there was a disturbance just a few minutes ago but now it’s gone. Helena called us back here when it started flashing the warning. We tried to get a hold of you but you didn’t answer your Farnsworth.”

“But…” Claudia shook her head back and forth and tried to clear the haze she felt.

“But what?” Steve followed up.

“But when…when did that happen?”

“About ten minutes ago,” Pete tentatively answered. “We hadn’t even gotten to the part of the Warehouse Artie wanted us to start doing inventory on before Helena called us back.”

“What…” Claudia reached up and held her hand against her chest. “You’re saying…you three.” She pointed at Steve, Myka and Pete. “You were all together since you left here and then H.G. called you back and you’ve all been here since.”

Four heads nodded back at her.

“But…”

“Is there a butt epidemic?” Pete whispered to Helena out of the corner of his mouth. “Is that what she’s trying to say?”

Claudia wanted to snap at him again but she could tell he was actually being serious and Helena was genuinely considering his concern based on the tiny creases forming in the skin between her eyebrows. 

“That’s not…” she started and trailed off, her panicked eyes looking at all the other occupants of the office.

Hadn’t she thought she’d seen Myka earlier before too and she had equally ignored her? That really wasn’t like Myka and then the Myka and Pete she’d just seen…she felt her eyebrows furrow as she focused on them. Myka’s concern was only growing but Claudia avoided it and took in the loose fitted dark t-shirt Myka was wearing and the tight jeans…

The first Myka had been dressed in business slacks, hadn’t she?…How hadn’t see noticed the difference before?

The second Myka with Pete had been wearing a blazer of sorts…

And her hair had been different…

Claudia reached up and rubbed her forehead harshly.

Helena walked forward, her hand reaching out and grazing across Myka’s arm as they both shared a worried look. There was that intense bubble forming again but Claudia was on the inside of it this time.

“Claudia, what happened?” Helena asked.

“You look a little green,” Steve said.

“I do?” she murmured back and she started to sway a little. She felt sick for a lot of different reasons suddenly. Everyone apparently had been together and not one person had been in the aisle next to her. Plus, Helena and Myka were clearly very much still a thing and she felt uneasy about doubting that but…

There it was again…but…what had she seen then? What did it all mean? 

Was she the one who was sick?

Everything around her started to spin.

“I don’t…know,” she muttered and then she did something she would refute until the end of her time.

Claudia Donovan fainted on the spot.


	2. Chapter 2

There were days where Steve thought possibly he played the party pooper role or what was termed ‘Mr. Poopy Pants’ just a little too much, even he could admit it. Occasionally, he was the wet blanket because it was just fun to see Pete struggle to get a joke to land in his presence. Everyone liked to mess with Steve’s pressure points and he found he could reciprocate in tiny ways that gave him a small amount of satisfaction. That or he was indeed fully indoctrinated into the ways of the Warehouse gang and he really did enjoy Pete’s efforts in a strange way. He tried not to follow that train of thought too much. From time to time he was the killjoy though because not everyone had considered all the outcomes of what an action might cause, except for usually Myka, but there wasn’t always a guarantee she’d be around, and even she dared at times when he tended not to. And Steve knew that made him an overly cautious person, but life had a way of shaping them all in modest and extreme ways and he wouldn’t apologize for it. Steve rarely leaped. So, yes, Steve Jinks could be a killjoy, a wet blanket and he was especially such a thing when he was worried Claudia was going to hurt herself or worse.

At the moment, Claudia was lying unconscious on the couch as Helena checked her vitals and Myka used a damp cloth to wipe the dark smudges off of Claudia’s face.

So, Steve stood off to the side being a wet blanket quietly, as he frowned intensely but remained silent. The deep creasing lines in his forehead were doing the talking for him.

He thought he saw Claudia’s eyelids flutter and he couldn’t help himself. “How is she doing?” he asked, trying to keep his voice level.

Helena looked up at him, concern etched into her face but she was calm and Steve took that as a sign of reassurance even before she spoke.

“She appears to have only fainted, to the best of my ability her vitals appear fine, and there is no appearance of any further injuries-“

“These smudges on her face look like burn marks almost,” Myka interrupted.

“She did say her hair had been smoking before, whatever that means,” Steve grumbled and then began to pace.

“Do you think she was shocked by something?” Helena directed at Myka.

Myka frowned. “Maybe, but as you say she appears fine-“

“Fine! Fine?” Steve interrupted and threw his hands up in the air as he paced faster. “She’s unconscious and-“ He stopped and closed his eyes. Holding his hands up towards the two women, he took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”

“It is quite all right,” Helena said softly.

“We are all worried, Steve,” Myka added. 

He opened his eyes and met her gaze. “I know, I know.”

“I got them!” Pete called out as he ran into the office from the balcony. He didn’t stop his run until he stood over Claudia, his hands covered in purple gloves as he held a small pillbox. “And FYI,” he nodded at the two women. “I did not see any artifact disturbances, everything was quiet.”

“The alert hasn’t gone off again either,” Helena confirmed. “Whatever it was attempting to warn I still do not know.”

“How is she doing?” Pete asked with trepidation.

“She appears unharmed beyond her current state of unconsciousness.” Helena moved a strand of Claudia’s hair off of her forehead.

“Still no idea on what happened to her or why she was freaking out just before she passed out?”

“No,” Myka replied a little stiffly. “You said you got them?”

“Yup.” Pete held the pillbox up to her face.

Myka frowned. “We really should have Artie and Vanessa update the first aid kit up here. I think it’s from before the eighties, there’s a pack of old moldy cigarettes in it.” She pulled a purple glove out of her back pocket and took the box from Pete to do a once over.

“Hey, I’m with you on wishing we could use regular ol’ smelling salts and not artifact smelling salts but desperate times call for desperate measures. And, really, I’m a little disappointed and surprised H.G. doesn’t carry them around. I mean are we even sure she’s as Victorian as she claims? She did say it was ‘all good’ just a little while ago.”

“Are you implying I was commonly in need of smelling salts back in my time like some kind of-“

“What? No way,” Pete interjected. “I’m saying you needed them to bring back all the ladies to consciousness after they swooned over your charm. You feel me, Lady Killer?” He winked at her.

Helena grimaced. “From time to time I find myself hating our new friendship.”

“Aw, no you don’t. I make jokes for your benefit now, like fifty/fifty.”

Steve watched the interaction silently and noticed Pete was even keeping an eye on Myka out of the corner of his gaze as she inspected the artifact. 

“I currently do not need your strange benefit, or the regular use of smelling salts, beyond Claudia’s current predicament.”

“Well, okay, but you know it’s more of a precaution, I’ve seen Myka dangerously swoon a few times.”

“I don’t swoon,” Myka muttered as she handed the pillbox back to Pete.

“Sure,” Pete said.

Helena raised Claudia’s head up a bit and placed another pillow behind her. Steve remained quiet as he watched them, there was nothing he could argue with, Helena was being very gentle and he knew the current talk was a way of keeping the calm and Steve was very fond of ‘The Calm’. Now and then he saw the benefit of the jokes in times of crisis. He was adapting, even if he wasn’t always involved in them.

“You do know in most cases the perceived height of women hysterically fainting in my time was due to the physicality of the retched corset fashion of the era and not some believed weakness of the female mind?”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Fashion kills.” Pete nodded at her. “Now, let me be a gentleman and revive this fallen maiden.”

Helena rolled her eyes as she tilted Claudia’s face up gently. Myka took a few steps back but kept her gaze on Claudia.

“What are you doing?” Pete asked her.

“A precaution,” Myka replied. 

Pete shrugged and then got on his knees by the couch. Delicately, he opened the pillbox of artifact smelling salts and placed them under Claudia’s nose.

Steve held his breath as they collectively waited a moment.

Pete wafted his hand between the salts and Claudia’s nose and she jerked awake, her nose twitching, her eyes wide open with a sudden wild look. Helena held Claudia’s shoulders down lightly. Pete was smiling as he closed the pillbox.

“Hey, Claud, welcome-“ His words were cut off as Claudia decked him across the cheek and he fell back onto the floor.

“What?” Claudia mumbled.

Helena held her down a little more forcibly. “Easy, Claudia. Relax. It is okay. You are safe.”

Myka stepped forward and hovered over a still stunned Pete who was laying flat on his back. Pete rubbed his cheek softly.

“Ow.”

“You didn’t read the log did you?” Myka asked.

“You just told me to get them and where. I was in a hurry.”

“That’s true.” Myka nodded and crouched down, her gaze briefly shifted to where Helena was comforting Claudia. Myka picked the pillbox up with the glove and held it up for Pete to see. “These are the smelling salts from the Ali vs. Henry Cooper boxing match. The illegal smelling salts. They can quite literally pack a punch when used.”

“And you didn’t think to warn me?” 

Myka shrugged. “I don’t swoon.” 

A hesitant look dawned on Pete’s face and he looked from the smelling salts back to Myka. “You don’t swoon,” he repeated with a firm nod. “Not even a little. Not at all. You are right.”

Myka quirked her lips at him with an amused twitch. Next, her hand gently reached out to look at his cheek. “No mark at all, you big baby. And I know Claudia doesn’t currently have the strength to do any damage. Not with her right hook at least. Her high kicks though, she’s definitely been making progress on those. I’d stay clear of them, they’re becoming a trademark.”

“I think Claudia needs to have safer role models,” Pete murmured. “How is she doing by the way?”

They all looked over to where Helena had her arms wrapped around Claudia from behind. Claudia was noticeably struggling in the other woman’s grip.

“I believe she is still working through the side effects of the artifact smelling salts,” Helena’s muffled voice called out from behind Claudia’s head.

“Let me at him,” Claudia growled as her left arm slipped out of Helena’s grip and she swung wildly at the air.

“Are we sure that’s just the smelling salts?” Steve asked, now that Claudia was up and speaking he found his voice coming back stronger. “She did seem pretty pissed at Pete and…even Myka before she fainted.”

“What?” Claudia jerked against Helena; her head swinging around to focus on Steve and her arm stopped flailing angrily when she met his gaze. She blinked at him. “I did not faint.” Claudia shook her head. “Claudia Donovan does not faint.”

“Okay.” Steve nodded and kept in her eye line as he stepped towards the couch, he noticed the longer he had her attention the less aggravated she appeared. Helena slowly loosened her grip. “Well, I guess, the way to put it is, you briefly aggressively fell asleep on the spot and kind of freaked us all out.”

Claudia went still on the couch. “That’s how we’re all going to remember it, right?” She wearily looked around the room at them all. “Aggressively falling asleep on the spot, correct?”

Myka, Pete and Steve all nodded.

“Claudia, there is no shame in-“ Helena began only to be cut off by Claudia as she raised her hand up and looked at the other woman over her shoulder. “Aggressively. Fell. Asleep.”

They all waited a beat as Claudia narrowed her eyes and Helena remained unfazed. Another beat passed.

“Of course,” Helena finally deflated. “I see now, how perhaps I remembered the events incorrectly before.”

“Good.” Claudia nodded.

“I do hope we are allowed to speak of why you aggressively fell asleep,” Helena continued. “We are concerned and currently in the dark as to why it happened.”

“How do you feel?” Steve added.

Claudia rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. “A little sore, but whatever you did to wake me up from…my aggressive nap, I feel really good now, energetic.” 

“Like one can or two cans of Red Bull?” Steve asked with a sly smile.

“Just the one can.”

“That’s good to hear,” Myka spoke up. “But Claudia we’d really like to know what happened?”

Claudia blinked at both Pete and Myka blankly for a second and then her expression changed with a quick flash of anger, before confusion settled in and she slumped back against Helena.

“Just to clarify again, you are all agreeing that you were all together the whole time before?”

Everyone nodded slowly.

“Claudia, we have all been in this office for the whole afternoon today,” Myka answered.

“Except for when we left to do inventory after Artie left,” Steve supplied.

“But still, you three were together?”

“Yes.” Steve nodded. “We were walking really, really, really slowly towards the proposed inventory aisles as per Pete’s senior instructions on how to run down the clock before the end of the workday.”

“Huh,” Claudia said as a perplexed look twisted on her face.

“What is it?” Steve asked.

“Ummm.” Claudia looked at Helena out of the corner of her eye and then stood up slowly.

“Easy,” Helena said.

“I’ve got pep, H.G., it’s all good now.” Claudia looked at Pete and Myka and then laughed nervously. “Ummm, do you think I could talk to you two, privately for a moment?”

Pete and Myka shared a look as Pete slowly stood up.

“You aren’t going to punch me again, right?” Pete asked.

“No.”

Pete shared another look with Myka.

“What about a high kick?”

“No.” 

Pete shared another pointed look with Myka and then shrugged. “Well, okay.”

Claudia awkwardly shuffled away from Helena and gave both her and Steve a nervous smile and then started to slide across the room uneasily. “Just be a sec, guys.”

“Why are you being so weird?” Pete whispered loudly as she continued her weird shuffle, her eyes still on Steve and H.G. “Are you sure you feel all right?”

The shuffle stopped immediately and she snapped her gaze towards Pete. “I’m not being weird.”

“You’re being a little weird,” Steve called over.

“Shut it, Jinksy.” She reached out and grabbed both Pete and Myka’s arms and dragged them over to the farthest corner and proceeded to pull them into a huddle.

“It’s a little weird, isn’t it?” Steve asked quietly as Helena stood beside him and they both watched the three of them across the room.

“A tad,” Helena replied easily. “But that is par for the course here.”

He turned to face her. “You know, I think you may have a better handle on this Zen thing than me. When did that happen?”

Helena smirked at him, and it surprisingly came across condescending but then her cheeks softened and she shook her head at him, her eyes glimmering for a moment with amusement. “Is that the impression you have?”

He really did believe his intimidation of one H.G. Wells was healthy. It never stopped them from working together efficiently, it never hindered their ability to have a conversation or enjoy a moment between them; he just heartily believed there was a lot about the woman that definitely left him on the precipice of prudence. He didn’t have the Claudia student/teacher bond with the woman. He didn’t have Pete’s history and nature that allowed Pete to get away with how he interacted with Helena. Half the time they acted like old war buddies, time in the trenches having developed a dynamic, granted war buddies who hated/loved each other. And he certainly was not on any level Myka was. No one was. And therefore, he always felt that sheer drop. And right now, he felt that precipice as she matched his gaze, a sort of defiant stare with a glint of steel as she was back to smirking at him briefly before a strange lull settled and her face went back to being impassive.

“Are you saying it’s just an act?” he asked tentatively.

“That is an interesting question,” she replied, her eyes dancing across the room before flickering back to him.

“I shouldn’t have…I didn’t mean-“

“No, no, Steve, do not falter in your judgment. I take it as a compliment you would think I have such a handle. Especially, coming from you.”

“You do?” he asked in surprise.

“I do,” she replied earnestly. “You above all know the fine line between the storm and the…calm. It takes effort does it not to be…”

“Still,” he added softly. “Even with the storm underneath.”

“Indeed.” She tilted her head towards him. “I did not mean to refer it is an act, that was very much a version of me a while ago I do not wish to be, ever again. It is just…”

“What?”

She smiled at him softly. “Even now. It doesn’t do well to have the storm raging underneath, one must let it pass; let it breathe, slowly, like grain through a sieve. I am surprised always when I am…successful.”

“That’s what they don’t always tell you, it’s never just a one time thing. It’s always a process. No shame in that. But honestly, I wasn’t being flip, it was a genuine compliment.”

“And I astonishingly, genuinely accept it. I would not think of myself as a Buddhist, but I do find your take on things, at times, interestingly similar to tactics Abigail suggests.”

“Hey, you don’t need a label, I get that.”

There was less of a glint in her eye. “Perhaps, I should teach you some tactics with handling Pete.”

He smiled at her. “That be nice, they don’t really cover that in my teachings.”

“What!” Pete yelled suddenly and they both turned to glance across the room. Claudia contemplated them and then glared at Pete. 

“Shhhh!” she hissed. 

“No, Claudia, I am not liking what you implied. I was practically Cupid himself when it came to…” he started to trail off when he noticed how quiet the room had gotten, his eyes settling on Myka and then nervously twitching towards Helena.

There was an odd tension between the three of them as they huddled together and were no longer speaking.

“Ah, you can talk over here if you want,” Steve began when no one else spoke up and it started to get awkward. “If it’s about Pete’s fetish for wearing diapers, you probably need us as a group to tackle that.”

“O-M-G, Jinksy.” Claudia gaped at him.

Pete glared at him and didn’t speak. Steve swallowed dryly. “Sorry, you mentioned Cupid, and no one was saying anything, and sometimes I get awkward too you know. You don’t all have a hold on that.”

Claudia raised her hand up across the room. “Steve, you and H.G. be quiet just for a moment, please.”

The three of them leaned in together to talk again.

“Can you read lips?” Helena asked him slyly.

He shook his head as they watched them. “Not really. I have no idea what they could be talking about. Possibilities always seem endless.”

“It is curious.”

“What!” This time it was Myka who yelled suddenly, her mouth opened wide in shock. “We would never…” she trailed off, her eyes catching Pete’s as they shared a look. 

Steve watched fascinated as Myka and Pete had a whole conversation with just their expressions in fewer than five seconds. They both narrowed their eyes and then pointed at each other.

“Ohhhh.” They echoed.

“There was-“ Myka started.

“Yah, but that was because of-“ Pete continued with a jerky nod.

“It was the week just before-“ Myka added as she raised her chin up.

“Yes, it was.” Pete followed up. 

“Claudia didn’t figure it out-“

“Until the following week and-”

“Yup.” Myka nodded stiffly.

Pete and Myka both shivered like something disgustingly slimy and cold had touched the back of their necks.

“I’m I missing something?” Steve whispered to Helena.

“The other half of the conversation I believe,” she answered with a sigh.

He watched as Claudia moved her head between the two agents like a ping-pong ball.

“What were we wearing?” Myka asked Claudia with extreme focus.

Claudia caught Steve’s gaze and pulled Myka and Pete in closer. After a moment they all pulled back with jointly perplexed expressions. 

“Okay, now all three of you look like you are going to be sick,” Steve spoke up.

Three heads snapped to attention in his direction.

“What is going on?” he continued. “What does what one wears have to do with anything?”

Myka and Pete looked at each other awkwardly and then immediately turned away. Claudia walked through them and stepped into the center of the room.

“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure,” she directed at him and then didn’t say anything else.

Steve turned helplessly towards Helena but she was busy observing both Pete and Myka with an incomprehensible look.

“Everyone, group huddle now,” Claudia ordered.

“Oh, we’re allowed in the huddle now,” Steve asked defiantly. “You sure?”

“Don’t test me right now. I may just have another round left in me from those smelling salts.”

Steve moved forward. Myka and Pete stepped away from each other, more than was really necessary and stood on either side of Claudia avoiding eye contact.

“H.G.?” Claudia raised one eyebrow up. The deciphering gaze on Helena’s face was clear now as she quietly took her spot beside Myka.

“All right.” Claudia clapped her hands together. “If this was the regular, normal world, I would tell you that what happened to me was most likely me hallucinating and that I should be on my way to the hospital right now for tests, but as this is the Warehouse…”

“Artifact business,” Steve interjected.

“No doubt about,” Claudia confirmed. “Well…a little doubt, I mean if it doesn’t happen again…maybe I should go to the hospital.”’

“You aren’t making me feel any better.” Steve shook his head at her.

“Right, well there was the alert you guys had and when I saw…what I saw, there was a lot of energy in the Warehouse and I got shocked. So ninety-five percent sure this is Warehouse business.”

“I don’t like how nonchalant you are about being shocked.”

“It’s Warehouse shock, Jinksy, it’s different.”

“Oh, it’s less deadly? Really? You know the science behind it.”

“I do actually.” She raised her chin up at him. “Sort of.” Her chin dropped slightly.

“What did you see?” Helena inquired, her face back to being harder to read as she locked onto Claudia.

Claudia nervously shifted her eyes between Myka and Pete before answering. “I think I saw the past.”

“You went back in time?” Steve asked.

“Ah, no, I didn’t.”

Steve stared at her, his eyes wide in disbelief when she didn’t elaborate.

“It was more like…like the past came to me.”

Steve remained unblinking. “I’m going to need you to start from the beginning.”

“That would be very helpful,” Helena added.

Myka and Pete were both still avoiding eye contact.

“Okay, earlier before Artie left, I was working on repairing a few of the log screens on a top shelf and I dropped my screwdriver over into the other aisle. So I had to go and get it and I’m halfway down the ladder when I hear footsteps coming along in the aisle the screwdriver fell into, and it’s Myka, so I call out to her but she ignores me and she just keeps walking right by with her clipboard. I wasn’t that high up, she had to have heard me, but then when I got down into the aisle, she wasn’t there and I smelled this weird metallic smell and I looked around but nothing was acting up and then I came back here.”

“That doesn’t sound so weird,” Steve replied.

“I know, but apparently Myka was in the office the whole time and now…”

“Now, what?” Helena pushed.

“Now, it occurs to me that she looked a little different, she was wearing different clothes, and her hair was…shorter and she was thinner, like how Myka looked when she was in remission.”

“What happened later?” Helena continued her eyes were hawkish as she refused to back down, her dark stare absorbing all the movements of Pete, Myka and Claudia.

“Ummm, so I’m back up the ladder, finishing my work and I hear two voices over in the same aisle. I look over and it’s Pete and Myka and they were dressed differently as well and Myka’s hair was longer and Pete’s was…unusual. They also apparently could not hear me when I called out.”

“What were they doing?” Helena asked and Steve thought he heard a bit of a hiss at the end of her sentence.

“Ah…” Claudia stalled.

“Inventory,” Myka interjected a little too loudly. “We were…” Her eyes finally caught Pete’s and he nodded eagerly. “Inventory,” she repeated hastily and then guffawed funnily.

“Just plain, old boring inventory,” Pete added with a nervous chuckle.

“They were…doing…inventory.” Claudia nodded with a strained smile.

“The three of you needed your own private huddle to talk about inventory?” Steve asked suspiciously.

“That would be my question as well.” Helena narrowed her eyes, her still very hawk like eyes.

Myka was the first to start laughing nervously and then Claudia and then Pete smiled widely and said, “Guys, she needed to ask us some personal questions about us, she was trying to figure out if what she saw was something that happened or not. Like things about my hair too, and you know I take that personally.”

“It was definitely the past, it was Pete’s mid life crisis hairdo timeline.”

“See.” Pete snapped his fingers at her. “And that was a hard time for me. For us all. She didn’t want to dredge it up.”

Steve wasn’t buying it and from the calculated look Helena was alternating between, she didn’t either.

“Inventory, guys,” Pete continued to implore. “What else would Myka and I be doing in the Warehouse? Myka is all about the inventory in the Warehouse. I would never mess with that. She has rules.”

“That sounds surprisingly still suspicious and oddly redundant.” Steve crossed his arms. 

Myka was rubbing the back of her neck and Helena was watching her. “Yes, Myka rarely…deviates from such tasks…in the Warehouse. Although-”

The hand on back of Myka’s neck stalled and she faced the other woman. “Helena…” she whispered with a warning tone.

“They were doing inventory,” Claudia stressed.

“And that caused you to be mad at them when you saw them next because…why? Because they used red ink and not blue?” Steve brought up.

Claudia shared a quiet look with Pete and Myka. “Y….yes….that would be why. Blue ink should be the clear choice, always. I’m a stickler on that issue.”

Steve didn’t back down from staring at her. 

“I believe we could move on from this at a quicker pace and work on finding the disturbance if still active, if the three of you would just say it,” Helena said.

“Say what?” Pete asked weakly.

Helena smirked at him. “As much as I enjoy seeing you squirm sometimes, it would be best to just acknowledge what Claudia really saw.”

“H.G., I don’t know what you mean-“

The predator measured look Helena had been sporadically sporting melted away promptly and she rolled her eyes. “Fine, since you wish to continue to posture, and Claudia wishes to flounder and Myka is…” Helena eyed her girlfriend with a sudden amused look. “Pretending denial is a new way of life. I will say it. It is not as though it has any hold on the present.”

Myka didn’t bother fighting her on it, her eyes drawn to the ground.

“You weren’t there, H.G.,” Steve said, he was trying to figure out how she’d already come to the conclusion and he hadn’t, but again there was that healthy intimidation for a reason. 

“Indeed, Steve, but the clues are there, not to mention the body language. Claudia was angry with Pete and Myka and said they made her sick. I have been informed of one instance in the past during my absence when such an event made Claudia sick. Not to mention Claudia’s effort not to have me know. And the reference to Pete’s mid life crisis haircut. It narrows down the time period in the past.”

“To what?” Steve asked.

“When Pete and Myka were whammied into believing they were in love with each other. My guess would be that Claudia saw a version of past Pete and Myka engaged in some kind of-“

“Don’t say it,” Myka finally spoke up, and covered her face with her hand.

Pete grimaced. “Please don’t.”

“Don’t use any more words, H.G.,” Claudia pleaded.

Helena smirked dangerously. “I won’t in regards to the matter, but may I say I appreciate your valiant effort on my behalf when you thought perhaps that my honor had been infringed upon.”

“Oh, well of course,” Claudia replied. “But to be honest, I wasn’t thinking clearly, the spark I got hit with kind of messed with me when I woke up. I mean even if what I saw were real in the present, first option would be artifact misuse and not Myka cheating on you. I mean, I really do think my brain might have been fried for a second.”

“Hospital it is then,” Steve said and stepped up to her.

Claudia waved him off. “No, no, I’m fine now.”

“Claud, you just said your brain got fried and for a second you thought Myka would cheat on Helena with…with PETE!” he exclaimed.

“I’m fine,” she emphasized again. “It was just after shocks, I didn’t get directly hit. I am f-i-n-e.”

“As we all can be now that you finally got that out.” Helena slipped up beside Myka and reached up to pull Myka’s hand down. “And you?” she asked quietly.

Myka sighed and looked down at her. “I wish I could erase my own memory.”

Helena smiled at her indulgently. “Only certain memories. We shall just have to make a new memory to erase that particular one.” Helena leaned up and whispered something in Myka’s ear and Steve had to look away when Myka blushed.

Another reason H.G. Wells could be nerve-racking, she was smooth as hell.

“Okay, so we’ve all made peace with what happened but now we need to figure out why it happened and if…” Pete stopped as he swallowed loudly, a squeamish look on his face. “If…similar things will happen again.”

“Claudia, you should show us what aisle it happened in.” Steve walked over towards her and looked her up, toes to head. “If you are honestly feeling okay?”

“I am.” She reached out and squeezed his arm. “And thanks for the concern.”

“Five minutes until five p.m. but something tells me this means nothing now,” Pete said more to himself as his eyes lingered on the clock on the wall. “Let’s go to the scene of the crime then.”

Helena pulled away from Myka slowly and looked at him. “What an apt name to give it.” She raised one eyebrow challengingly. 

Pete rolled his eyes and headed for the balcony. “Come on, guys, maybe we can solve this quickly and have enough time for a pizza party tonight.”

“A pizza party? What are you, twelve?” Claudia asked.

Pete narrowed his eyes at her from the doorway. “Did I mention I would pay for the pizza party?”

Claudia’s face lit up. “I say yes to the pizza party! Let’s go be geniuses then.”

Steve didn’t bother to cover his laugh up at her enthusiasm as he followed her out the door. He turned around briefly to see if H.G. and Myka were following and smiled as Helena tenderly kissed Myka on the lips, a quiet reassurance for the still slightly flustered agent.

There was a brief note in his rundown of H.G. and why he wasn’t always intimidated by her, the reason why he could function around her besides it was his job, it came down to one incentive most of the time; he knew she could be a big softie, especially when it came to Myka. And she didn’t seem to care who knew it.

That was something he could respect above all or more something he was thankful for. He’d heard all the stories before, the history that didn’t paint the best picture but he couldn’t argue with what he saw on a daily basis and unfortunately heard late at night through the B & B walls.

He needed to get out more.

A Friday night spent at the Warehouse wasn’t helping matters, but as he saw Pete laugh at something Claudia said in front of him and they high fived, it didn’t bother him so much.

Not really.

It be a thought for later, his failing social life.

 

 

The wooden shards of half of the ladder that were scattered on the floor in the aisle Claudia had been working in did nothing to comfort Steve. In fact, he felt ‘Mr. Poopy Pants’ was about to make an appearance.

Helena didn’t know about ‘Mr. Poopy Pants’, he didn’t think, but she was looking at him like she knew what was about to happen.

“It looks worse than it was most likely was,” Helena said as she eyed the messy floor between them.

“Yeah, Jinksy.” Claudia slapped him on his shoulder and half hugged him. “I wasn’t even at the top of the ladder when it happened.”

“It’s the small things isn’t it?” He eyed her slyly. 

“Is that a crinkle of humor I see on the man’s face?” Claudia pulled him closer and squinted. “I believe it is!”

“To comfort you further, it appears the bolt struck only the wood and it would be highly unlikely it would have hit Claudia directly.”

Both his eyebrows went up. “It is exceptionally strange the way you two are trying to put me at ease.”

“The Warehouse does its best to protect us, yes time to time things may seem otherwise but the convergence of energy was feasibly due to whatever artifact was acting up and the Warehouse trying to warn Claudia.”

“Warn?” Steve laughed sharply. He eyed the air above them. “Good job, buddy,” he muttered sarcastically.

“Hey!” Claudia hit him lightly up the back of the head. “Don’t you talk to the Warehouse like that.”

He leveled his gaze at her. “Claud, what if you had been at the very top?”

“The Warehouse would have worked its magic,” she replied absolutely.

“I know you have your growing relationship with it and all but-“

“What was that you told me once?” Claudia looked him in the eye. “Have the faith.”

He shrugged uncomfortably. 

“Does it put you at ease anymore if I were to break down the function of the energy in the Warehouse, think of it as very diluted in compar-“ Helena said.

Steve raised his hand up. “Nope, I’m good, I shall take your ladies word for it, especially as Claudia’s grip has gotten a bit stronger as this convo has continued. Dangerously stronger.”

“You noticed?” Claudia smiled at him as she squished him against her side even closer.

“I did,” he grunted.

“The energy can only become a problem if certain artifacts are not stored far enough away from one another,” Helena added absently as she investigated the mess on the ground. “Or-“

“He gets it.”

“I do, but what if…”

“What if…what?” Claudia filled in.

The shelves loomed up high above them on either side but the air around them was still and nothing was setting his nerves on end, but Steve sniffed the air suspiciously anyways.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“What artifact log screen were you fixing at the time, Claudia?” Helena asked as her eyes traveled up high.

“I didn’t touch the artifact if that’s what you are getting at. It was Buster Keaton’s hat and it makes you indestructible when you wear it, downside being you slowly turn black and white and silent if you wear it to long.”

“What about beside that? In your general workspace?”

“Again, I didn’t touch any artifacts up there, only my screwdriver and the dusty shelf itself. I know where to keep my hands and that is to myself in regards to artifacts.”

“I would still like to know and without the ladder…” Helena trailed off. “We should go procure another one-“

“Ah, I’m thinking…I’m trying to remember…” Claudia scrunched her eyes together and hummed.

“Myka!” Helena called out when Claudia didn’t come up with a better response.

“Yes?” Myka’s voice answered from the aisle over.

“If you aren’t terribly busy shoving your tongue down Pete’s throat, do you think you could join us over here for a second.” Helena’s tone was practically jovial. 

They all waited a beat when no response followed until Myka rounded the corner with a severe pinched look pulling at her face.

“That’s not funny. You aren’t funny,” she directed at a smirking Helena.

“I don’t know about that, Steve looks like he finds it amusing.” Helena winked at him and Steve immediately tried to school his features into a look that was definitely not close to finding things humorous.

Pete stepped into the aisle behind Myka. “I am ignoring what I just heard and jumping right in to telling you, everything looks fine and is in its correct place in the aisle Claudia said she saw our past versions in. There’s no evidence of any mishaps.”

“Nothing smelled funny?” Claudia asked seriously.

Myka opened her mouth and Pete jumped in before she could talk. “That’s too easy of a joke, let it go.”

Myka sighed and closed her mouth.

“Nope, nothing smelled off,” Pete added. “Shame we can’t use the durational spectrometer.”

“Yes, but there’s a chance nothing would show up. We still don’t know how real these things are that Claudia saw,” Myka said.

“They were real, Myka,” Claudia stressed.

“I know, I believe what you say you saw, but as you said, they didn’t notice you or react to you and disappeared quickly.”

Pete snapped his fingers. “It’s like ghosts of our past selves wandering around with no idea.”

“Did they look corporeal?” Helena asked.

“I was a little far away, but I mean they looked solid.”

“Is there a particular reason you hollered?” Pete asked Helena.

“Yes, Myka,” Helena began as she approached Myka and guided her over towards the area Claudia had been working in. “Have you ever done inventory in this aisle before?”

“Why?” Myka asked.

“I’m hoping we can bypass taking the time to search the database or run off searching for a new ladder and use your memory instead.” Helena leaned in close as she spoke, her hand reaching up and pushing a few of Myka’s curls back from her forehead, her finger trailing over Myka’s skin.

“Everyone avert your eyes,” Pete spoke up. “This is like foreplay for them when they watch each other use their big brains.”

Helena glared at Pete over Myka’s shoulder but Steve caught Myka’s crumbling frown that was catching between a grimace and a smirk and he realized Pete was probably not so far off the mark.

“Would you be quiet,” Helena snapped. Pete playfully pouted. “Please,” she added as an afterthought.

Myka inspected the shelves, her eyes roaming from end to end. “This is aisle 545D, right?”

“Correct.” Helena nodded.

“I have done inventory here before, but not every item, I don’t know-“

“Just the top shelf, Myka, right in front of us, have you ever done any inventory up there? Do you recognize any artifacts that could possibly explain what Claudia saw?”

Myka narrowed her eyes and tilted her head back further. “I recognize Doc Holliday’s dentist kit and that does not cause the past to come to life.”

“Definitely doesn’t.” Pete rubbed the side of his jaw with a serious look.

“And I mean I recognize objects but I never logged them so I don’t know what they do. I only did the kit up there. Oh! I did read the information on-“ She started to walk down a bit, her eyes moving back and forth and then she pointed up two shelves. “That’s Bill Watterson’s drawing pen, I read that once in the logs, and it can bring to life-“

“If you say a cool talking tiger, I’m going to have to dig deep for restraint,” Pete interrupted with a grin.

Myka turned around and Steve was surprised to see she was equally enthused as Pete. “No, but it does bring to life things from your childhood that may not have been real but you imagined-“

“Imaginary friends are not always good, I’m betting that’s the side effect,” Claudia said. “And no, I did not touch that, and unless I am secretly somewhere else in a coma, you guys are not imagined, you are very real, and the past was very real too.”

“Well, then no, I can’t tell you anything else that I know of here that could have done it.”

“What about the aisle over in which the specters of sorts were in?” Helena pressed gently.

Myka tilted her head to the side in thought. “No, none I know of that are over there would be capable of doing any sort of thing that we’re looking for.”

Claudia half-jogged to the end of the aisle.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked.

Claudia stopped at one of the computer stations. “If Myka human database fails, I’m going to check the archives on here. It could take a while, but best to start anyways.” Claudia poked her head back into the aisle. “No offense, Myka.”

“None taken,” Myka replied. 

“What exactly are you going to search for?” Steve followed after Claudia.

“I don’t know, a generic search of artifacts that have to do with time or ghosts or just get a list of all the items in these two aisles and-“ Claudia paused mid-sentence, her eyes focusing back on the screen and then she yelled out, “Aw, come on!” She smacked the side of the monitor.

“What’s the problem?” Helena asked. 

Three sets of footsteps came from behind him as the others joined them at the end of the aisle.

Claudia pointed at the black blank screen. “I don’t know, it was working fine but then it started to flicker and-“

“Does anyone smell that?” Pete asked, his head rose towards the aisle in front of them.

“I do,” Myka replied.

“It has a strange sort of metallic scent,” Helena added.

“That’s what I smelled before and after when the doubles, or copies, or…whatever you guys were showed up. I mean I don’t know why things around here always do what they do. Artie is better at-”

“You’re talking really fast, Claudia, slow it down. We understand,” Steve said as he felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he nervously peered up at the air above them. “Uh, guys, looks like that friendly energy burst is back.”

Everyone followed his gaze down the next row of shelves across the aisle from the computer station, where there was a flux of light crackling just above the highest shelf.

“That is definitely in a different place now.”

“It isn’t just predisposed to the one aisle then,” Helena concluded.

“Let’s go see then,” Claudia started walking forward.

“Hey!” Steve called out. “How about we don’t walk directly into the ball of energy?”

Claudia turned around and rolled her eyes. “It’s just hanging out up top, we should be fine down here and maybe it’s trying to tell us something.”

“She’s right,” Myka spoke up as she followed Claudia. “We aren’t going to know if we don’t check it out, carefully.”

Pete walked past him. “She did say, ‘should be fine’. And Myka said, ‘carefully’.”

Helena was next. “Would you like me to explain to you how the energy is different from the basic electricity you are thinking of?”

Steve just stared at her quietly.

“Don’t dawdle, Agent Jinks,” she said with a raised eyebrow as she left him, the slight reprimand hanging in the air behind her.

“Right,” he mumbled to himself. He contemplated his surroundings and then closed his eyes. “I hope Claudia is right about you.” He opened one eye. “You building that is apparently more sentient than I thought and I may have hurt your feelings earlier so sorry about that.”

“Jinksy!” Claudia’s voice rang out. “You’ve got to see this!”

“Coming!” he called back and then sighed.

 

“There you are!” Claudia grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into the new aisle, a beaming grin cutting into her flushed cheeks. “It’s kind of amazing. You need to see this.”

“What’s got you so excited?”

“This!” She yanked him down the aisle and made room beside Helena and Myka, Pete was just a few feet in front. “I definitely don’t need the hospital. I’m not hallucinating things.”

Once he had his feet planted and Pete stepped back out of the way, Steve jumped slightly on the spot. “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed,” Helena said, her eyes never moving from what was happening in front of them.

“So we all see this then?” Steve asked.

Everyone nodded.

“Let’s get closer and see if we can hear them.” Claudia ran forward but Pete reached out and stopped her.

“Easy, Claud, we still don’t know what’s happening or why or-“

“Pete, it’s you, a version of you, Myka and Artie, I think it will be fine to take a closer look.”

“Slowly, Claudia, then.”

Claudia nodded at Pete and they both tentatively approached the three specters that were hanging out at the end of the aisle. Steve, Helena and Myka wordlessly followed. 

“They look very solid don’t they?” Steve voiced.

“Not very ghost like,” Pete added.

Once they got halfway down the aisle the voices of the three of them carried over.

“They are talking and we can hear them!” Claudia said. 

Past Artie turned around to speak to past Myka and Pete and from their approach the group was now directly in his eye line but he didn’t react to their advance.

“He doesn’t notice us,” Myka observed.

“It’s just like how I said before,” Claudia began. “They didn’t react to any outside forces.”

“Can you place how far in the past this is?” Helena asked.

“Why are you guys wearing orange safety vests and hardhats?” Steve moved closer as he tried to get a closer look at past Myka and Pete, Artie was the only one whose face he could fully see.

Everyone shuffled closer.

“Oh, my, god, you guys are like little babies!” Claudia squealed suddenly. 

“You do look younger,” Steve observed.

“Are you saying I look old now?” Pete challenged.

“You do look like you’ve…” Pete glared at him. “…seen some things.“

“This is our first day,” Myka blurted out.

“Like your first day ever in the Warehouse? Ever, ever?” Claudia gaped.

Myka nodded, her bottom lip drawn under her teeth.

“Whoa,” Claudia said. “I gotta get a closer look at this.”

The five of them shuffled closer and stood in a half circle just steps away from the past versions of Artie, Myka and Pete that were completely oblivious to them and Steve could make out what they were saying more clearly.

_“It goes back to Einstein, E equals…” Artie waves his hands around._

_Myka rolls her eyes, her lighter hair is tied back and she’s dressed in a smart business suit and everything about her is straight line. Artie notices her expression and jumps ahead, “Yeah, okay, somehow matter that is in here has just enough energy to move other matter. You know, like you.” He points to Pete._

_Pete looks confused as he responds, “Move me where?”_

_“Into trouble.”_

_“Bunk,” Myka forcibly interjects._

_Artie nods and starts to carry a large stone up a small ladder. “Is gravity bunk-“_

“I’ve got to say,” Steve started as he talked over the past versions in front of them. “You look really pissed for your first day, Myka.”

Myka was quiet as she watched the scene unfold in front of them. Pete started laughing.

“Man, you have no idea. You know how Artie does the whole arm sweep when he shows you the view of the Warehouse and everyone does the wide eye wonder look of like ‘Whoa’, well, Myka was barely fazed, Artie does his whole thing and Myka is just like ‘Why am I here? I’m more valuable in D.C.’, she was in a major stink about getting transferred here. First thing she did after seeing the ‘wonder’, was go back outside to make a phone call to know who the hell made the mistake.”

“You’re kidding?” Claudia gasped in disbelief.

Helena was observing Myka but didn’t say anything, as Myka remained quiet, her brow puckering slightly.

“To be fair, she was kind of thrown off that I was here too. You know, the first job we did in D.C. together, well she’d just gotten accommodation for saving the President’s life on it and I’m put on leave and peeing in a cup cause everyone thinks I’m high for talking about this stone that was bleeding and this short guy in a trench coat with an electric gun. And next thing, we’re both in the same place for the same job.”

“First off,” Claudia held her hand up and widened her eyes in awe at Myka. “You legit saved the President’s life?”

“It was my job,” Myka replied absently, her eyes briefly glancing to meet Claudia’s gaze. “What do you think the actual Secret Service does?”

“Yeah, but I mean not everyone in the Secret Service actually gets a chance to you know…take a bullet for the freakin’ President!”

“I didn’t take a bullet, Claudia.”

“No, she just knocked out an artifact crazed killer with her fists and feet in a slinky dress in front of everybody without breaking a sweat.”

“Whoa,” Claudia gaped. “That’s totally amazing, Myka. If I had saved the President’s life, I’d never shut up about it.”

“No doubt,” Steve chuckled and tried to catch Myka’s eye, but both her and Helena were being noticeably quiet as they stared ahead. “But Myka, that still doesn’t explain why you wouldn’t be immediately down with all this?” He raised his hands up around them. “You love this stuff.”

“I wasn’t exactly…in the best head space when I came here,” she replied softly.

“Plus, again, to be fair, she really didn’t like me at first,” Pete added.

“Oh, so that’s just a normal thing then when people meet you,” Steve said. “It does apply to everyone.”

“Ha…ha…ha.” Pete narrowed his eyes. “When H.G. first met me, she shoved her own tongue down my throat, freely. So there.”

Steve closed his eyes. “People really need to stop talking about tongue shoving involving you. I’m starting to fear the fact it has happened to a large number of us and the statistics.”

“That did not mean I liked you,” Helena replied, her famous steel gaze focusing on Pete. “Or that I enjoyed it.”

Pete shrugged. “Hey, you didn’t shove your tongue down Myka.”

Helena rolled her eyes. “I would have much rather have done the latter but I knew she was the brains of the operation and wouldn’t go for it just out of nowhere!”

“The brains of the-“ Pete heatedly started to reply but then Claudia interrupted them all. 

“Guys, shhh! I wanna hear what they’re saying.” 

_Artie was still talking from his perch on the ladder. “Actually, Pandora’s box is over in aisle 989B.”_

_Myka and Pete shared the definition of a ‘yeah right’ look._

“I think skeptical Myka might be my favorite,” Claudia whispered.

_“Empty of course,” Artie continues and turns around to come down the steps. “Pete?”_

_Pete waves._

_“Uh, do the world a favor and clear your mind,” Artie instructs._

_“Well, that should be easy,” Myka replies sardonically._

“Ohhhhhhh, it’s like the first glimpse into the backbone of their partnership, it’s so beautiful, the baby step insults,” Claudia whispered and pretended to wipe a tear from her eye.

_Pete laughs sarcastically at Myka and then looks down at the sudden unexpected kettle that is in his hands. He gasps and holds it up. “Whoa, wow, how did that get there? ‘Cause I didn’t pick that thing up.”_

_Artie shakes his head. “It amazes me how that thing moves.”_

_“What? What is it?”_

_Artie holds his finger up. “Don’t talk, don’t hope, don’t wish for anything.”_

_“That kettle grants wishes?” Myka asks in disbelief and points to the kettle and smiles jokingly._

“You are totally not buying anything that Artie is selling,” Claudia commented.

“Oh, just wait, she’s going to get her comeuppance,” Pete said. “And everyone thinks I’m the one who has the problem with touching things I shouldn’t.”

_“Just keep your eyes on me.” Artie starts to back up and disappears around the corner._

_Myka eyes Artie suspiciously as he goes. She turns and points at the kettle. “Open it.”_

_Pete opens it and shrugs as he swings it up for her to see it’s empty._

_Artie comes in with a cart carrying a large container. “Pete! Pete, this…this is, uh, neutralizer.” He lifts the top off. “You can think of this as a fire extinguisher for objects that act up.”_

_Myka peers into the container with a distrusting frown._

_“Now look, I want you to come over here and drop that slowly, right in here.”_

_Pete and Myka slowly approach._

_“Now, listen, there are items around here, if you were to put it in there, they would generate a flash, but this will be a little spark.”_

“You totally think Artie is off his rocker,” Claudia chuckled.

_“But you may flinch, and I don’t want you to, ‘cause you could drop it, okay?”_

_Pete goes to hand it off but Myka grabs it suddenly with a sly smirk. “Well, I have a wish.”_

_“Don’t!”_

_Myka gasps as a ferret pops out of the kettle. Pete is equally in shock. She hands the kettle and ferret off to him and he grabs them helplessly._

Claudia grabbed her chest as she laughed uncontrollably, deep belly laughs hiccupping in her chest as they slipped out just beside Steve, his own smile splitting wide on his face. “You’ve always been vague about the exact details on how you got Pete the Ferret from the wishing kettle and now I know why.”

“Claudia, don’t rub it in,” Helena said softly.

“What? She’s finally shocked by something. It’s gold.”

_Pete is struggling with the ferret and Artie grabs the kettle and drops it into the neutralizer container and puts the top back on._

_“You wished for a ferret?” Pete asks._

_“No.” Myka raises her arms up. “That was already in…the…thing.”_

_“I don’t think so.”_

_Artie sits on top of the container and leans over Myka. “You wished for a transfer, didn’t you?”_

_Myka is aghast._

_“Impossible wishes, wishes that can never be granted, they produce a ferret. Don’t ask me why. My first year here, the whole place was crawling with ferrets.”_

_Myka looks at the ferret in distress. Artie shrugs at her._

_“I swear I didn’t pick that thing up.” Pete grips the ferret tighter as he nods at the container._

_“No, I know, I know. Not everybody is affected by everything. Here, okay?” Artie gets off the cart and pushes it away. “You have to be metaphysically predisposed. And the external energies, they have to be in alignment. This is just a convergence thing.”_

Claudia reached out with her hand.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Seeing how tangible they are.”

The breath in his lungs was trapped as Steve watched carefully as Claudia’s hand reached out to Past Pete’s shoulder but she never made contact.

“It’s like there’s a force field of some kind, there’s a low buzz across my fingers,” Claudia remarked. “But I mean we can’t see through them or anything.”

“Strange,” Steve murmured.

“Not as strange as it is for you, as it is for me,” Pete added.

_“What you’re supposed to do is hunt down whatever is threatening the world’s day, neutralize it and bring it here. You gotta snag it, and bag it, and tag it,” Artie continues._

“This is gold!” Claudia grabbed her phone out and held it up. “I need a picture.” She snapped a picture and looked at the screen. “Got it!”

“They showed up?” Steve looked at her phone and saw the evidence.

_“This is crazy!” Myka says to Artie and then turns to Pete. “This is crazy!”_

_“You know, I don’t…it could be, you know, crazy fun.” Pete shrugs._

_“That is exactly the attitude that brought you to our attention. Do you want a cookie for the road?”_

_“What road?” Myka demands._

_“There’s rooms for you at Leena’s Bed and Breakfast. It’s about seven miles down the road that way, and I’ll join you there in the morning and I’ll…I’ll just join you there in the morning.” Artie walks away around the corner. “Stay close!”_

_Myka steps back to grab her bag and she and Pete follow after Artie._

_“Seriously, Lattimer there’s been a serious screw-up. I’m serious.”_

_“And now you have a ferret.”_

_“What?” Myka gasps._

“You were so pissed, Myka!”

“Claudia,” Helena warned.

“It did take a while for me and Artie to win her over,” Pete said.

Myka finally shifted her gaze away and smiled tentatively at Pete. “I got along better with the ferret before I did you,” she teased.

“The ferret peed in your shoes right away, come on, I never did that! How was I worse?”

Claudia ran forward around the corner.

“Where are you going?” Steve yelled.

“See where they go! I want to see where the funny goes. You guys were great.”

“Looks like there’s another one of those light clouds over in the direction she went,” Pete observed. “Claudia, don’t run off!”

“She’s got a lot of pep remember,” Steve added, but concern laced his words. “I’m pretty sure she lied about the only one can of Red Bull feeling. How long are the after effects supposed to last?”

Pete ran off after her with a shrug and yelled over his shoulder, “I’m pretty sure her heart isn’t going to explode or anything, she just needs to work it off.”

“Right,” Steve replied dubiously.

He could tell the quiet that settled between Myka and Helena was one that alluded to a conversation wanting to be had and he was in the way. Without a word he followed after Pete only to almost crash into him and Claudia as they ran back around the corner.

Claudia’s face was wild with excitement but she was unable to speak, her cheeks looked flushed.

Pete wore a similar expression, but magnified, the Cheshire cat grin breaking out. “Umm, so our past selves disappeared, don’t know where to, but you guys aren’t going to believe what is right around the corner now.”

“What?” Steve asked.

“A freakin’ stark naked H.G. Wells?!” Pete exclaimed.


	3. Chapter 3

“Naked,” Pete emphasized as he drew his hands out in front of him as though he was revealing a banner. 

Myka reached up and pinched the top of her nose as she closed her eyes and processed. Just one more thing to throw on the pile of things that had unexpectedly come up and out of nowhere on an unusually idle Friday and she’d been so close to tasting the possibility of a weekend off. First there had been the concern that Claudia was injured, then the nausea of Pete’s tongue, the sudden trip down memory lane that was a heavily weighted lane and now-

“Nak-to-the-ed,” Pete finished with a low whistle.

“Oh,” Helena simply uttered. 

“Oh?” Pete repeated. “That oddly didn’t sound like a surprised kind of ‘oh’.”

Inhaling deeply, Myka opened her eyes and dropped her hand down. Helena blinked at Pete obtusely.

“Completely naked?” Helena asked with a tone that was searching for clear clarification.

Pete nodded dumbly.

“Stop saying naked,” Myka mumbled.

“Naked and tongue shoving have been struck from the record,” Steve said, albeit cautiously, he and Claudia were silently watching them with eager and curious gazes. Claudia was practically bouncing on the spot.

“You don’t seem surprised by it either.” Pete raised one eyebrow at Myka and then started to wiggle both of them at her. “Were you and H.G. having sexy times in the Warehouse. That’s against the rules, your rules I believe, unless under an artifact influence that has lasted weeks.”

Myka reached up and rubbed the back of her neck.

“What…no…we…I don’t…we…”

Helena coughed lightly. “I believe if you saw me completely naked that is due to an artifact mishap from last year.”

“What are we doing over here?” Pete exclaimed. “Let’s all go back and see if naked H.G. is still there! We’re being crazy just standing here talking. We can’t ignore an artifact incident, it wouldn’t be-”

“Professional,” Steve interjected, with a sly bob of his head.

Pete smiled at him. “That’s my Jinksy!”

“Totally! Let’s go!” Claudia squealed and took off. Steve hesitated a moment and looked at Myka helplessly before following Claudia.

“I think someone needs to help remind her to calm down a bit, keep a normal pulse rate.” He ducked around the corner.

Myka caught Pete just before he took off, her fist wrapping around the fabric of his t-shirt as she yanked him back, their faces inches apart. She didn’t say anything at first; she knew the threat in her eyes spoke volumes.

“Myka, I only mean to say, we need to keep evaluating this phenomenon and H.G. needs to confirm if it is the thing in the past that actually happened that you are thinking of.”

“Oh, that’s all,” she replied tightly, her jaw clamping shut. “Then you stay here, right here, while we go and evaluate.”

“Aww, man.” 

The fabric bunched tighter in her hand. “Stay here.”

Pete went very still and finally nodded. “Yeah, totally, right here, I get it. I mean five us really would be a lot for the study for evaluating…I mean they always say four out of five dentists, what was the fifth one doing anyways- “

Myka let go and pushed him past Helena. “You are babbling.”

“Yes, and here I thought you might have been struck speechless by my nakedness,” Helena added. “I am wounded.”

“Helena!”

Helena slinked over towards her. “Again, I appreciate the attempt to protect some perceived notion of my honor, but we should perhaps go and follow up with Claudia and Steve.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “And make sure it is indeed the particular memory we believe it is and not-“

Myka grabbed her and propelled them both around the corner. 

“You stay there, Pete,” she ordered.

“Sure thing, I’ll stay in the aisle with no hot naked people, totally sounds like the thing I’d do, so that’s what I will do.”

Myka didn’t look back to make sure he was indeed staying, she knew despite the show, Pete did have boundaries and respectful morals, she couldn’t fault him for accidently walking in on a past version of her naked girlfriend. Who knew that was even ever a possibility, present versions of course, but she should have been including the past too like a good well-versed Warehouse agent who knew not to have normal expectations for their daily life.

“Claudia and Steve’s silence doesn’t tell us at all if-“ Myka directed at Helena but trailed off as they rounded the new aisle. “Thank-god,” she muttered under her breath.

Steve turned around and nodded at her. “We purely evaluated and it’s the same as the other times, she doesn’t notice us, we can hear and see her like she’s right there but can’t touch.” His eyes widened. “I mean not that we would touch, or I’d touch or-“

“Thanks,” Myka interrupted before he pulled something.

“Should I turn away? I should turn away shouldn’t I?” Steve started to turn his back on the aisle.

“It is quite all right, Steve. I believe Myka only has concerns about Pete.”

“You don’t?” Myka asked her, her voice a little squeaky.

Helena shrugged.

“H.G., what is going on here?” Claudia asked, her head tilting at an odd angle. “Because it just looks like you are doing inventory…but naked.”

They watched as Past Helena who was without a stitch of clothing wander down the aisle towards them checking off a list and humming as she went.

“That is the scenario we are presented with,” Helena replied. 

“And you are alone,” Claudia continued.

“Yes,” Helena answered calmly.

Myka tried not to roll her eyes because really, it wasn’t a surprise that Helena was not in the least bit flustered by everyone seeing her naked. 

“Are you sure you are Victorian?” Myka muttered out of the corner of her mouth.

“Do not jump on that bandwagon,” Helena replied a little tersely. “Would you prefer it if I were more-“

“Seriously, H.G., why are you alone and…naked, did I miss Naked Thursdays?” Claudia spoke up again.

“It was a Tuesday,” Myka sighed.

“Okay, Naked Tuesdays then, does Artie know?”

“Claudia, dear, did you not hear what I said? Artifact mishap.”

Claudia finally tore her gaze away. “Yeah, okay, but you seem pretty cool about it. Almost comfortable.”

“One should not be ashamed of their own body.”

Claudia guffawed and then pointed as Past Helena fully turned around and faced them as she crossed over to the other side of the aisle. “Well, yah if that was my body I wouldn’t be ashamed either. Like damn, H.G., how do you and Myka get anything else done when you both look like-”

“Claudia,” Steve nervously stressed.

“Sorry, I keep getting these random bursts of hyper energy, the words they are, ah, tumbling.”

Myka felt the urge to pinch her nose again and sigh deeply, a deep low building sigh that would just make everything stop. She didn’t execute the action because even though she was flustered on behalf of Helena, she wasn’t turning away her own gaze from her naked past girlfriend and she knew the slight red that was pulling to the surface of her cheeks had very little to do with annoyance. Myka wasn’t going to argue with Helena or Claudia. 

“I appreciate your sentiment, Claudia, but you as well should not be ashamed or hindered by any-“

“Have you guys finished evaluating and has naked H.G. disappeared?” Pete interrupted as he shuffled delicately into the aisle, his hand covering his eyes. “You can’t just leave me over there with no update. It might not be safe.”

“She’s still here,” Steve spoke up; he was standing sideways, caught between looking and not looking.

“Okay, I’m keeping my hand in place. No peeking, I promise.”

“Good,” Myka said.

“Were you not cold?” Claudia asked. “Like why are you-“

“She looked cold before,” Pete interjected and immediately grimaced. “I said that out loud didn’t I?”

“You did.” Myka glared at him and she knew he sensed it somehow when he tensed up.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

Myka didn’t say anything; she wanted him to stew, just for a little.

“Guys, are you going to explain or what?” Claudia half-begged. Her right leg twitched. “Oh!” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell-phone, her fingers swiping across it. “Hey, that’s weird.” Claudia raised her phone up in front of her with a frown.

It happened so fast, Myka wasn’t entirely conscious of what she was doing, but as soon as Claudia’s phone was level with Past Naked Helena, she reached out and grabbed the phone and threw it in the air and away. It crashed loudly behind them, the sort of crash sound that echoed loudly and implied hundreds of little pieces scattering helplessly. “No pictures.”

Everyone went very quiet and Myka just stared ahead, a very intense concentrated look forming on her face. It was time to think on what could be causing these events to happen, it wasn’t time to get distracted. She could see Claudia’s opened mouth stare of disbelief out of the corner of her eye and she angled her body away.

“I wasn’t going to take a picture,” Claudia stuttered.

Myka didn’t reply. She was focusing. 

Creamy white skin.

Familiar freckle.

She narrowed her eyes.

Past Helena stood up on her toes suddenly as she reached up and stretched to tilt a log screen towards her.

Myka swallowed dryly and blinked. 

She was focusing on the wrong thing.

Unfortunately.

“Again, are you listening to me, Myka, I wasn’t going to-“

“You took a picture before,” she replied hastily.

“You were clothed! I’m not a perv. And now that is gone forever, along with-“

“I’ll buy you a new phone, Claudia, a better, brand new phone of your choosing.” She hadn’t looked away. 

Claudia was silent for a beat. “Any phone…of my choosing?”

Myka finally found the strength to turn away and meet Claudia’s gaze. “Yes, I promise and I’m sorry.”

Claudia’s eyes lit up. “It’s cool, I mean your pay cheque may take a large dent next month, but I accept your apology.”

“What were you doing, if you weren’t taking a picture?” Pete asked, his hand still in place.

“My phone, it felt really hot all of a sudden in my pocket and when I took it out it started to act funny and the screen sort of just…fizzed out.”

“Technically, you make it sound like your phone bit the big one before Myka even threw it.”

“Myka, don’t listen to Pete.” Claudia laughed nervously.

“I will replace your phone, Claud, I promised.” Myka couldn’t help it, her eyes drifted back down the aisle. A warm puff of air trailed across her ear and she tried to stall the shiver that went down her back as Helena whispered, “This may be an odd question, but should I be feeling jealous of my…past self? I am standing right here you do realize.”

She blinked hurriedly as she tilted her head down and matched Helena’s amused grin.

“That is an odd question, how can you be jealous of yourself?”

“Because I am suddenly feeling a lack of attention.”

Myka rolled her eyes. “There is a past version of yourself naked in front of us all, you are the center of attention.”

“A version of me, yes, but the version of me in the present is not-”

“Helena, I am not even going to dignify an answer, I know you are just messing with me.”

“Only a little, darling.” Helena’s hand settled around her back. “But be honest, it has been months, a cold harsh winter, how does present day me compare to this young nubile version-“

“You are being an ass, the definition of an ass,” she murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

“Are we going to get an explanation?” Pete inquired loudly.

“Speaking of asses,” Helena whispered in her ear again after a beat, the mirth in her voice hard to ignore. “Do you think my-“

Myka pulled away and stepped forward and spun around to face everyone with her arms wide. “It was Hans Christian Andersen’s first copy of The Emperor’s New Clothes, all right! It got mixed up with some normal first copy editions of books in the library and she touched it and she had no idea. I found her like this after at least two hours of her already doing her work…non-clothed. She had no idea.”

“I didn’t,” Helena backed up. “Bit of a shock really but no harm done.”

“Okay.” Claudia nodded.

“That is very much an explanation,” Steve concurred.

Myka looked at Pete and waited, he still had his hand up.

“All right,” Pete nodded and Myka still waited. He took a deep breath. “I’m not going to say anything further, Mykes. I got this.”

“Good.”

“Oh, she’s coming closer,” Steve spoke up, his eyes darting down the aisle. They all heard a small slap noise as something hit the ground. “And…she’s dropped the clipboard.”

“Everyone turn around!” Myka ordered and everyone did, promptly, except at the last second Helena pulled them both back to watch as Past Helena bent over to pick the clipboard up. 

“We have no need to turn away,” Helena whispered softly against her neck.

“Your ego knows no bounds,” she whispered back.

“It has more to do with seeing you all hot and bothered under the collar.”

“I’m not wearing a collar,” Myka mumbled half-heartedly, her gaze indeed not turning away from the spectacle in front of them.

“Guys, this is getting weird,” Claudia said. “I don’t mean because of nudity per say, just us hanging here while you two…”

Myka blinked and then Past Helena suddenly disappeared, one second she was there and the next just gone. 

“She’s gone,” Myka stated.

“Gone, gone?” Claudia asked.

“Yes, one minute she was there and then she just sort of fuzzed out in the blink of an eye.”

“You sound forlorn,” Helena whispered, the puffs of air that accompanied each word crinkling with soft laughter.

“I’m not continuing this conversation,” she whispered back. “Stop talking.”

“Who said it was a conversation that I wanted to continue with talking?” Helena’s lips ghosted across her neck.

“Okay, nudity may be gone, but it’s still awkward,” Claudia said.

Myka straightened up and turned around to face the other three, her hand nervously shifting around the neck of her shirt as she cleared her throat. “Does anyone have any idea what is going on?”

Three heads shook back and forth.

“The smell is gone,” Pete added as he lowered his hand from his face.

“No static storm either,” Steve chimed in. “It sort of just hovered and then filtered out a while ago.”

“The static could be interfering with all the electronics you’ve tried to use, Claudia,” Helena said. Her fingers were delicately sitting on the back of Myka’s back still but she wasn’t attempting to test the waters. 

“Has it ever done that before?” Claudia voiced.

“I don’t know, it does appear to be more concentrated than I’ve ever seen it before when it occurs.”

“I know it may be fun to wait and see where it pops up next but maybe we should head back to the office and see if we can use the computer system there to access the database and get a better chance at narrowing down the artifact and see if there’s been any logged alerts,” Steve said.

“Fun outweighing the sensible thing, arghhhhh.” Pete strained his face in a moment of thought. He opened his eyes wide. “Okay, sensible thing it is. I agree.”

“I do too,” Myka added softly. Helena nodded her reply.

“Race you, Jinksy!” Claudia took off.

“Claudia!” Steve warned.

Claudia yelled over her shoulder, “I need to work off this energy, I’d really like to stop saying embarrassing things, so come on, be on the look out with me.”

Steve rolled his eyes and nodded at them. “See you guys there.” He sprinted off.

Pete smacked his lips together, loudly, and looked at Myka and then Helena. “So.”

“So what?” Myka asked a little harshly, she was feeling oddly defensive.

Pete shrugged his shoulders. “I gotta do it.” He held his arm out in front of her and curled his hand together in a horizontal fist and waited. Myka widened her eyes in confusion.

“I believe, Pete is wishing you to fist bump him and I say I might be highly offended if you don’t,” Helena said a little haughtily as she followed after Steve.

“What?” Myka stuttered.

“Fist bump.” Pete reached down and grabbed her hand and made a fist with it and then bumped their fists together. “Way to go, Mykes.”

She clued in when Helena smirked over her shoulder at them as she disappeared around the corner.

“Yeah, yeah,” she drawled at Pete, feeling a slight upwards tick at her lips.

“Seriously, like way to-“

“I got it.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“I promise I won’t bring this up ever again.”

“I appreciate that, but I think Helena truly didn’t mind it at all.”

“Notice that maybe she actually has the more eccentric sense of humor.”

“More and more.”

“Who knew?”

“We probably should have known the moment she let us fling ourselves up to the ceiling all on our own in her house.”

“She did think that was amusing didn’t she? I still need to get her back for that.”

Myka narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

“What? It’ll be tame in comparison I promise.”

She nudged her shoulder against his. “Maybe you could let me in on it when you do.”

Pete smiled at her and pulled her along. “I like what I’m hearing.”

 

They caught up to the rest of the gang before even making it back to the office. Helena, Claudia and Steve were standing halfway down an aisle watching a past version of Steve.

“It appears the phenomenon decided to make itself known regardless of our plan,” Helena said.

“And there’s that smell.” Pete sniffed.

Myka looked up wearily at the flickering lights. “No large energy mass, but the lights don’t look happy.”

“Let’s just keep going,” Steve said, his shoulders stiff as he frowned.

“Don’t want us to learn any of your secrets do you?” Claudia narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m saying we can’t afford to be distracted,” he responded.

“It looks like you’re just doing inventory as well,” Pete said.

“Oh, wait for it,” Claudia voiced.

Past Steve was standing with his back to them, his hands moving up in the air, he half turned around and they could see Trailer sitting just in front of him.

“Trailer present or Trailer past?” Pete asked. 

“Past,” Claudia answered. “Apparently, Steve likes to vent to Trailer on several occasions.”

“You know we have like an actual registered therapist for that kind of stuff?” Pete shot Steve an incredulous stare. 

Steve glared at him. “I’m not venting.”

Past Steve pantomimed even wider with his arms towards the patient dog.

“You sure?” Claudia asked.

Steve waited a beat. “Okay, I’m venting. Sometimes I like to say things out loud that help me deal with stuff and Trailer is a good listener.” Steve’s face crumbled in, the lines folding around his eyes and nose. “That does sound crazy, doesn’t it?”

“Not entirely,” Helena spoke up. “Animals do provide comfort for-“

“What about cats, H.G.?” Claudia smirked.

“Some…people…not me…would think they provide…comfort too.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, H.G.”

“Let’s take a closer listen,” Pete suggested.

“Look, if I just tell you that sometimes I vent about you all taking unnecessary risks and Pete’s awful jokes can we just move on quickly. “

Myka noted how uncomfortable Steve was appearing; she felt a sense of empathy having already had several of her own awkward trips down memory lane.

“Come on, guys, keep walking.” Myka strode forwards. “Give Steve a break.”

“Fine,” Claudia followed. “But just be careful of this practice, Steve, I don’t want Trailer becoming a downer.”

“Agreed, don’t you Joey Tribbiani this dog too much with your issues.” Pete pointed at Steve.

Claudia stopped to turn around and high-fived Pete. “Totally.”

“What?” Steve blinked blankly.

“Friends, Steve, like the tv show,” Pete blinked back almost as blankly. “Season eight, Phoebe lends Joey the happiest dog in the world to cheer him up and-“

“I don’t-“

“Come on, Pete, Steve is one of those people who has never seen every Friends episode,” Claudia comfortingly laid her hand on Pete’s arm. “I try to pretend it’s not a fact, for the greater good.”

Pete’s face twisted painfully. “Oh, Steve…”

Steve rolled his eyes and started to speed walk down the aisle, he by passed Myka and then his Past Self without a glance and kept right on going. They all watched him go quietly.

“Friends?” Helena asked.

Pete and Claudia swiveled their heads back around to face each other with wide-eyed expressions and both said, “Marathon rewatch!”

“For sure.” Pete nodded.

“Later we must,” Claudia added and nodded at Helena.

Pete and Claudia took off after Steve before Helena could catch on.

“Marathon…rewatch with Friends?” Helena asked her with a questioning look.

“It seems that if we get out of here any time soon, your weekend is now booked with watching all ten seasons of a tv show called Friends.”

“Ten seasons?”

Myka nodded. “Twenty or so episodes per season.”

Helena thought it over briefly and then she glanced at her with a powerless expression. “Help me?”

Myka laughed at the distressed look on her face. “I’m sure you will be afforded bathroom breaks.” 

Myka started walking and Helena ran up to her and looped her arm around hers. 

“Surely, you will not leave me to such a fate. Least of all, alone.”

“Hmmm,” Myka murmured.

“Myka.” Helena tugged on her arm. “You wouldn’t.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” A mischievous smile slipped onto her face as they walked by Past Steve and Trailer.

“Myka,” Helena said sternly but Myka kept walking and smiling obliviously.

_“…really, no, Pete, I will not pull your finger, we still have two more hours in this car.” Steve motions his hands in frustration and Trailer follows his movements obediently, the dog’s head moving back and forth. “I mean, right?”_

_Steve sighs. Trailer gets up and nudges Steve’s hand with his nose and gives a quick lick._

“ _Thanks, buddy.”_

“I think maybe we do need to talk to Pete about pulling back on messing with Steve so much,” Myka said.

“You must admit, sometimes Steve is a bit…”

“Uptight?”

Helena nodded.

“Too serious at times?”

Helena nodded again.

“It may be partially my fault.”

“How is that?” Helena asked curiously, her fate of marathoning a decades long show briefly forgotten.

“Pete’s just going off the evidence of his previous experience.”

“Experience?”

“Well, he eventually wore me down and I think he thinks he can do the same to Steve.”

“It has been a long amount of time in comparison, Pete should realize this is just who Steve is.”

“And Steve should realize the same about Pete.”

“Yes.” Helena nodded as they exited the aisle. “Sounds like a standstill.”

“Yes, but we’ve survived this long.”

“That’s sort of our group’s motto isn’t it?”

Myka laughed. “Something like that.”

They made their way down the last two aisles and approached the staircase. It wasn’t until they were at the very top of the balcony that Myka noticed how quiet Helena had fallen, or particularly what the silence she was sensing meant. Long ago, Myka had recognized several of the different signs in Helena that could be matched to certain moods. But what tended to speak louder were the silences, they could fall out of anywhere at any time, pockets of melancholy, slips of remembrance, tumbles of regret, frozen spikes of fear, variants of quiet that were rarely peaceful, but within the quietness that could befall the other woman, Myka had learned in the last year to spot the hush that was less paralyzing, the lull that resonated with satisfaction, with reflection, and of course there was always even since the beginning the engrossed quiet that hinted at a mind running a mile a minute with formulas and plans, no doubt faster.

They paused on the top of the balcony, with Helena’s gaze soaking up the view of the stacks and stacks of the Warehouse, her hips leaning into the railing, Myka slid up beside her, her own body loose and at ease, for the silence this time, it was not isolating.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked quietly.

Helena tilted her chin up at her, soft lips stretching into a languid smile. “You.”

“And what in particular about me?”

“Possibilities.”

“Well, that narrows it down.” Myka’s cheeks pulled back as she found her own easy smile matching Helena’s. Her fingers reached up to curl around the railing and Helena’s hand grazed them, the skin warm and inviting.

“I was thinking, what if you had have gotten that transfer you so wished for on your first day here?”

Myka waited a beat, she could see the gears moving in the other woman’s head, the twitch of her nose, the soft glow to her eyes as she looked from the view back to Myka, the slight downward turn of one corner of her lips, the levers being pulled deep inside and leaving their mark outside.

“But I didn’t.”

“Well aware. Gratefully aware.”

“As I’m I.”

The hush swiftly ghosted across Helena’s skin and reached out towards Myka, it hovered heavily in the inch of space between them, and Myka sensed it, the warning, the quick flash of tension that threatened to dip them down into that tumble, that slip, that pocket. 

“Where do you think we would be if you had have gotten that transfer?”

And Myka leaned forward, her brain running through the answers, the answers that could tip them over, the reply that could bring them back and she realized there was no right response and so she went for the one that was surprisingly the less weighted answer and that was saying something.

“I imagine…we’d all be really, really, cold right now.”

Slowly, Helena turned her gaze back to her and the downward turn of her lips was still there but it was less of a frown and more of a unspoken sigh of failed amusement expressing itself in strict line form as Helena added an eye roll to the whole execution.

“That old story.”

“Well…I mean, when you think about it-“

“Yes, and when I do, I realize there is also the possibility that without you at the Warehouse, MacPherson may never have debronzed me to begin with. I would still be bronzed, trapped, waiting and alone, never having known-”

“Helena…”

“I remember his disdain for you and Pete, he was surprised by your…adequacy as Warehouse agents and that he was unable to turn you against Artie and the Warehouse. He was desperate for a new plan, a new distraction-“

“Helena, Helena,” Myka repeated softly. “Helena, look at me.”

Helena’s fingers gripped at the railing, tight and taunt, the bone of the knuckles popping up like angry sharp snowy ridges.

Myka reached out and tilted Helena’s chin up towards her, their eyes locking together as she leaned in.

“I’m here, you are here. You are not bronzed and I’m not at some desk in D.C., we are here together. No good will come of the trail of thought that you are heading for.”

The ridges slumped, the fingers loosened and Helena relaxed slightly.

“I know…it was silly… I was being-“

“No, you weren’t. I understand.”

Helena nodded quietly. Myka let her hand trail down from Helena’s jaw to her neck and rested it on her shoulder and she could feel that cold cut of fear melt a little.

“I am very thankful you know, that I didn’t get that transfer.”

“An impossible wish,” Helena hummed it almost wistfully. “Perhaps, I should be less mad from now on when Pete the Ferret keeps us up at night with his cage activities.”

Myka smiled thoughtfully. “I never knew a job like this existed.”

“And how does this job compare now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Claudia was right to a degree, you were trained to take a bullet, how does that compare to…inventory?”

Myka sensed that dark cloud again, it had a habit of slipping in and out and she knew she could be just as guilty at its rapid and sudden appearance.

“Helena, I feel like there’s something else you are trying to say.”

“Indeed.” Helena grimaced, but didn’t turn away. “You’ve declined a lot of missions lately, offering to stay and work here.”

“And?”

“I can’t help but think that is because of me.”

“And you think that is a bad thing?”

Helena was quiet for a moment before she spoke again, delicately, “Myka, you enjoy missions-“

“I also enjoy the Warehouse.”

“Allow me to make my point, you could be described, surprisingly despite what most people see, you do enjoy the chase.”

“Are you calling me an adrenaline junkie?”

“I don’t know that whole term, but I can assume-“

“Helena,” Myka reached out and gripped her hand. “I’m just going to clarify some things, okay.”

Helena nodded.

“Have I maybe considered that you don’t partake in missions that often? Yes. Have I considered the danger that occurs when I go out on missions and what that does to you? Yes. But we have already discussed these things.”

“Yes, and may I say yours and Abigail’s help in listing the other ways you could die simply at home or going to the store were not…comforting.”

A timid smile trembled on Myka’s face. “How do you think I felt? But you said it yourself, there are risks and dangers with-“

“Living, just living.”

“Exactly, and I understand your desire not to take the missions with deaths or missing people or-“

“Carnivals.” 

Myka was happy to see a bit of a smirk creeping up on Helena’s face.

“And carnivals, of course.” She rubbed her hand against Helena’s. “But the point is, you still do take missions, because even you enjoy that…chase from time to time but I don’t want you to think my recent shifting of missions has anything to do with what we’ve already gone through.”

“Then-“

“Helena, did it ever occur to you, that we have enough man power, that more often than not, not all missions are life and death and don’t need a large team and if I have the opportunity, I would rather spend time here with you.”

“Oh.”

“Okay, now that was a surprised kind of ‘oh’.”

“Yes,” Helena stumbled.

“The past Myka you just saw, she never had you. I bet you didn’t think of that.”

Helena shook her head back and forth.

“And, I think you are selling yourself short in thinking I don’t get enough out of spending time with you. That you don’t satisfy my needs.”

“I didn’t mean to infer…” Helena trailed off, an anxious look building on her face.

“It’s all right.”

“No, it isn’t, I-“

“Helena, it is all right, I’m glad you voiced the thought instead of letting it…fester.”

Myka was glad to see the anxiety wither away just as quickly as it came.

“Okay.”

“Good, and I’ll remember that adrenaline junkie remark next time you propose using your new grappler on our next field mission together.”

“Myka, now you are just putting words in my mouth and my new grappler is perfectly safe, even more so than the first.”

“Of course, of course.”

Helena narrowed her eyes at her. “Are you being insolent about my grappler?”

“Never.”

“I would hope not.”

“Hey, maybe you’ll get to use it in here, missions or not, Helena, I’m pretty sure tonight is proving the Warehouse always has something up its sleeve for us to do besides inventory.”

“That’s true. I’m sorry if it appeared I doubted you or the Warehouse.” Helena turned to look back out at the view and for a brief moment there was that content lull. “It is funny though,” Helena began, her eyes blinking quickly as they flickered back towards Myka.

“What?” Myka asked, sensing a shift.

“The idea of you, Myka Bering, not enjoying the Warehouse, not falling in love with it right away.” There was a slight twinkle in her dark eyes, and Myka would rarely say Helena’s eyes ever twinkled, or let alone out loud in front of the other woman, but they certainly could when she had a habit of teasing Myka.

And despite that hint of teasing, the silent edge was still there and so Myka didn’t take it too much to heart.

“I was a different person back then.”

“Yes, but the Myka who has always enjoyed books, a world of fantastical possibilities, that was there since you were a child. It’s just hard to imagine…if I had not seen it for myself-“

“Helena, you are just as aware of my faults and you know how I tend to deal with things. Working at the Secret Service…after Sam…I very much was not in tune with that part of myself, not for a very long time. I was transferred here and…well I thought it was a joke, I thought I was being punished, I didn’t believe…” she trailed off as she felt the huff of air catching in her throat.

“That a world of wonder could actually exist.” Helena’s hands slipped from the railing and she angled her body towards her, her hands slipping around Myka’s hips.

“Yes.” Myka nodded, leaning into her embrace.

“Or that one day you would fall madly in love with one of your favorite authors from the nineteenth century.”

“Oh, no, that one wasn’t so surprising.”

“How is that?”

“When I was younger I did imagine that, dreamed of it, fantasized, actually.”

“Really?” Helena raised one eyebrow up, a cocky grin following.

“Yes,” Myka nodded and paused. “But I could never decide if…Jules Verne would want lilies or roses for our fantasy wedding.”

The cocky grin slipped away, an indignant glower taking its place. Myka started to laugh.

“Oh, Helena, you should see your face.”

“It’s not funny.”

“Kind of is.”

Helena started to pull away and Myka slipped forward, her lips hovering just by her right ear. “That’s what you get for messing with me earlier with your naked self in front of everyone else.”

“I do not think the two things are of the same merit.”

“Of course, you are right.” Myka inched back a little, trying to contain her laughter. “I’ll make sure to keep my Verne fantasies to myself from now on.”

Helena glared at her. “We are not even at all.”

“How about now?” She leaned in and kissed Helena softly, their lips meeting slowly and unhurried. And any protest Helena had, melted away, Myka felt the sharp lines disappear as Helena matched her eagerly, her hand cupping the back of Myka’s neck. A satisfied moan slipped out between them and Myka wasn’t entirely sure whom it had come from.

“Hey!” Pete’s sudden yell cut right through them, but they didn’t jerk away, instead they leisurely untangled themselves and turned to face him, unperturbed.

“I’m all for giving you time to talk, but no making out like a bunch of teenagers on the clock.” Pete pointed his finger at them.

Helena licked her lips before she spoke and Myka tried to still the shiver that went through her suddenly very tingling body. “We are, technically, off the clock.”

“That’s true,” Myka added.

“Not when there’s an unknown artifact disturbance on the loose. So you two, bring it into this office, the PG-13 version. Get your hand off of Myka’s ass, H.G.”

Myka bit her bottom lip, trying to hide her amusement at Pete’s sudden stern attitude.

“Helena, we should remember the situation and go join the others or otherwise, Mom, here, might not let us be apart of the pizza party later.”

Pete’s jaw dropped. “I am…not…the…Mom.”

“Quick, while Pete has his existential crisis, let’s slip by before he can yell at us again,” Helena whispered in her ear. They both laughed as they sauntered by a silently stunned Pete, his eyes looking at out some unknown horizon.

“Oh, my, god…I’m I the Mom?” he whispered. “Have I matured?”

“Just a little,” Myka replied as they walked through the doorway. “But you counter act it with teasing Steve. It’s a balancing act.”

A relieved look overcame him. “Oh, thank god. Balance I can do.”

“Why did I just hear my name?” Steve called out from the desk; he was standing over Claudia who was seated at the computer.

“Nothing important, pal, my pal, the palest pal of mine,” Pete replied, back with his usual enthusiasm.

Steve frowned doubtfully. “Whatever.”

Claudia peered at them over the computer screen. “So the system seems to be a bit wonky even from here.”

“But not full wonky?” Myka clarified, learning long ago to follow Claudia’s technological terms for things.

“It’s running, but it does keep threatening to flicker out.”

“Think it will hold?” Helena asked, her eyes darting to the power grid box. “Perhaps, it needs a boost.”

“I’d tend to agree with you on that one, but I’m actually tentative on trying it, whatever is messing with everything, it could be just the Warehouse, or a combination of the artifact and the Warehouse and with all that energy flying around, I don’t know how good it would be to start messing with the power source no matter the cause, we could just make things worse.”

“While you two were…outside,” Pete began. “Claudia was saying it’s obvious we should be focusing on whatever the source of the artifact is to combat the other issue.”

“Understood,” Helena replied. 

“I’ve been able to log in and I’m doing two simultaneous searches, a search on everything we have relating to time, the past, etc., and a rundown on the two aisles it started in, but it is going slow.”

“Sounds like the best we got right now,” Myka asserted.

“Yup.” Claudia spun around in the chair and stood up, her and Steve joining the three of them by the window. “So any further brain storming ideas?”

Everyone looked around at each other.

“Sort of hate to be that guy but, uh, speaking of storm.” Pete pointed out the window and Myka turned just in time to see a flash of light above the balcony.

“Uh-oh,” Claudia mumbled.

The five of them immediately all tensed up.

“We all hear that rustling sound behind us, don’t we?” Steve asked.

Everyone slowly turned around away from the window to face the rest of the office. 

“It’s you two and Artie again,” Claudia murmured quietly. “You still look like babies but less…” Claudia trailed her eyes over Myka. “Less tense.”

“Mhmmm,” Myka assented. 

Steve leaned over towards Claudia. “Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know,” Claudia whispered back. “They aren’t saying anything and it just feels so…quiet.”

Past Myka and Pete now sat at the table, their hands moving through files as they made notes. Past Artie came out of nowhere from behind them and placed two glasses of milk on the table and continued on towards the chair by the desk.

Claudia took a step forward, her eyes squinting at the three copies.

“They kind of look…” she trailed off as Past Myka spoke up suddenly.

_“Umm…Artie?”_

_Artie sits in his chair and turns around. “Yeah, what is it?”_

_Myka and Pete stare with concern; Pete fiddles with his pen and clears his throat._

_“Look, Artie, first off…we wanted to say thanks for letting us use your car. You know?”_

_Myka nods encouragingly._

_Artie waves his hand away._

_"That GPS system, that’s-“ Pete pauses._

_“Fantastic,” Myka interjects._

_Pete nods. “Just fantastic.”_

_“Yah, and the seats.” Myka raises her arm out towards Pete with a nod._

_“Oh, yah.”_

_“I think that leather was custom made, right?” Myka reaches out to Artie with a flip of her hand._

_“Was, like, Corinthian leather,” Pete emphasizes._

“You guys got a bit of a routine going on here,” Claudia pointed between the past versions and Myka and Pete as she stepped closer towards the table.

Pete nodded. “Oh, this was a good one.” He smiled at Myka and she easily returned the gesture.

_Artie starts to look worried and shell-shocked. “What happened to my car? Did you…did you ding it?”_

_Pete and Myka turn their heads to each other and share a look._

_“No,” Myka answers._

_“Absolutely not,” Pete concurs._

_“Ding? No.”_

_“We didn’t.”_

_Artie looks at them with extreme focus. “Then what?”_

_Pete sighs. “Okay, look. I needed somewhere to throw the…bomb. Someplace enclosed."_

_Artie gets up from his chair. “Oh, God.”_

“I’m no doctor, but it looks like you guys are giving the man a heart attack,” Steve observed.

“Nah, don’t worry, he makes it,” Pete winked at Steve.

_Artie staggers forward._

_“We did manage to save your cassette,” Myka offers._

_Pete pulls out a large brown bag from under the table and passes it to Artie. Artie tentatively accepts it. “I loved that car. Loved.” He glares at both of them. “Loved.”_

_Pete and Myka share another look and wait a beat. Pete points at Artie with a smile. “Ahhhhh, psych!”_

_Myka points and smiles as well. “That’s what you get for lying to us.”_

_Pete starts to do an impression of Artie, “Let Myka think that she’s in charge.”_

_Myka starts to spin a little in the chair back and forth and shakes her hands in the air. “Yeah, ‘Pete’s touchy. Make him think he’s in charge’ You know what I’m saying?” She spins around towards Pete and they high-five each other._

_“What a burn,” Pete laughs._

“We definitely got Artie good, right, partner?” Pete winked at her this time.

Myka grinned back. “Sure did.”

_Pete and Myka walk towards the door laughing together._

_“Well, well, well, look who’s able to work on something together without arguing,” Artie says to himself._

Just before Past Pete and Myka approached the door, the three disappeared.

“They really are gone in a blink of an eye,” Pete observed.

“When was that trip down memory lane from?” Helena asked.

“Like our fourth or…” Myka trailed off as she met Pete’s gaze.

“It was after one of our first few missions together, we weren’t getting along great but the mission we’d just been on well, let’s just say Myka got to work out some of her issues.”

“Hey, I told you I was sorry every time.”

“I know, it was the start of a beautiful thing,” he replied slipping into a Humphrey Bogart type impression.

“Issues?” Helena asked.

“I was affected by an artifact and…a lot of my subconscious anger towards men-“

“Nethanderals,” Helena interrupted and Myka mirrored her cheeky smile.

“Hey!” “Hey!” Both Steve and Pete objected. 

“Anyways, I spent a lot of the mission punching Pete.”

“Claud, isn’t this one of your moments to log, the first punches?” Steve asked with a chuckle but fell silent when he noticed Claudia was still silently staring at the spot where their past versions had been.

“Claudia?” Myka questioned.

Claudia turned and blinked at them. “Did anyone else think they looked…different this time?”

“How do you mean?” Helena asked.

“Well before they kind of reminded me of what you looked like when you were a hologram, pretty solid but right up close you sort of see this fuzzy static, and it was like that before but just now…” Claudia widened her eyes. “They looked more high-def is what I’m saying.”

“How is that possible?” Pete asked.

“The flare ups could be getting stronger,” Helena proposed.

“Okay, wait,” Pete waved his hands out in front of him. “Is it just me but does this stuff remind anyone else of anything?”

“Besides the memories in my own head,” Myka said.

“Well, I mean yah, and I know this may seem crazy, but we’ve seen moments from the past before, I’m talking about the durational spectrometer.”

“That only goes back a few hours not years,” Helena replied.

“And certainly not in high-def,” Claudia added.

“I know, I know,” Pete continued to throw his arms out in front of him. “But speaking of early missions together, remember when you tinkered with your Farnsworth and there were all those issues with frequencies in town-“

“Yes, but that turned out not to be me, that was-“

Pete interrupted Claudia, “No, I know, but Artie felt it was a possibility that somehow the Farnsworth could be interfering, and I overheard you guys talking about Artie damaging the durational spectrometer, and he could have potentially from what you said, have been messing with it loopy on cough medicine, what if-“

“We need to find the durational spectrometer,” Myka jumped in.

Helena caught her gaze. “It’s not the craziest idea I’ve heard.”

“Where is it?” Claudia implored.

“He hadn’t let me look at it yet, he only gave me the blueprints.”

Claudia started to laugh in an ironic manner. “That doesn’t sound suspicious at all. Oh, Artie, what did you do?” She ran for the spiral staircase. “Let’s go check Artie’s sanctuary, it is a matter of security.”

Pete headed up after her. “Okay, but I call not looking through his dirty laundry.”

“Not it,” Steve said. 

“Not it,” Myka echoed, and she frowned a little realizing how fast she’d followed suit. Steve apparently was going through the same crisis as they both shared a concerned look.

Helena began walking up the stairs. “I think you two may have fooled Artie into believing you two are…the Mom and Dad.”

Steve and Myka wordlessly shared another glance and then looked up at Helena.

“We acknowledge your observation but you still didn’t say-” Myka replied.

“Not it,” Steve finished.

Helena rolled her eyes. “Somebody better find me a big stick if it comes to it.”

 

“See, no one needed to find you a big stick,” Myka whispered over Helena’s shoulder as she sat on the piano bench facing the bed in Artie’s room. Helena held the durational spectrometer in her hands as she inspected it.

“It was just sitting in the open, thankfully,” Helena replied. “Which I feel should be a sign that Artie wasn’t entirely concerned with anyone finding the evidence.”

“Yeah, but Artie really doesn’t think we’d ever dare enter his bedroom,” Claudia said as she wandered near the bookshelves.

“It is on the ‘Don’t List’,” Pete added as he stood on the other side of the bench.

“The verdict?” Steve inquired as he investigated casually over on the other side of Artie’s bed.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything abnormal about its properties.”

“You sure?” Pete asked.

Helena fiddled with the dial. “By definition, it’s dead in the water.”

“You can’t even turn it on?” 

“No, you are welcome to try, Pete.”

A loud bang came from below them, followed by a crackle and a sizzle.

“That did not sound good.” Steve peered down at the floor with a weary look.

“Ummm, guys…” Claudia whispered. “I don’t want to alarm anyone but it looks like…like someone is in Artie’s bed.”

“Oh, please, god, no,” Pete moaned and then crossed his fingers. “Please let it be just Dr. Calder.”

“Pete,” Myka warned, she felt her body tensing up, the caution flying out of her mouth for a different reason.

“It’s two someones,” Steve added.

An alarm went off and then the sound of two people screaming at the top of their lungs bounced around them.

“Oh, please, god, no,” Pete moaned for an entirely different reason.

“What the hell! It’s Pete and a random blonde-“ Claudia exclaimed.

“Myka,” Helena filled in, her voice severely monotone. 

And Myka went for it, she bent her head forward, her hand reaching up to pinch the top of her nose and she sighed long and deep, because really, she should have seen it coming. Not only should she have prepared for Pete walking in on a naked version of past Helena, she should have had the foresight to stop them all from walking in on a past naked version of Pete and her together in Artie’s bed.

It was what a good well-versed Warehouse Agent would have been ready for. 

“Could someone please find me a very large and heavy stick?” Helena’s voice was frighteningly flat. “The bludgeoning kind.”


	4. Chapter 4

There had been a lot of close calls in Pete’s life; so many that he couldn’t even recall them all. He would just shake them off and go on living.

But something told him, deep in his gut that maybe, just maybe this time would be the final curtain call.

Nothing close about it.

It would be a unique way to go though, bludgeoned to death by the author of The War of the Worlds, in the twenty first century, and if she didn’t find her stick, maybe with a copy of the book itself. Hardcover, obviously, although he imagined she could be inventive with just the paperback. It kind of had a bit of a flare to it.

There was briefly an urge to run.

A desire to dig a hole right to the core of the earth through the floor and hide, which based on the distressed look on Myka’s face, was probably her plan. He wasn’t entirely sure, as he could only see the certain ‘let the earth swallow me right now’ look for about a second before she palmed her whole face and refused to look at anything or anyone.

Instead, though, he accepted his fate, he was no coward and possibly it wasn’t the sensible thing to do, standing around in open view of one scowling H.G. Wells but truth be told, his legs felt like they were fused right to the ground, he was caught. And so like everyone else who had fallen speechless, he stayed, he remained quiet and he watched the spectacle unfold.

Possibly, he could pretend it was just a form of live theatre that he was watching, he was just an audience member of Shakespeare in the park, something along those lines, that was easy, and it was only a coincidence he looked sort of like the main actor.

It was a valiant effort, but still it was one of the weirdest things he’d ever seen. And he actually had seen a play of Shakespeare’s once, in a sparse field that was supposed to represent the barren land of Mars where Hamlet was moody and part alien. 

College was weird.

The screaming was still happening, bed sheets were being fought for, and skin was flashing. 

His skin.

Nope, he could not pretend. This Warehouse bit was definitely weirder.

Past Myka and Pete finally stopped screaming as they jumped off of the bed and away from each other, the bed sheet wrapping around Myka as she pulled it tighter. Past Pete held the pillow firmly against his crotch.

_“Artie’s bedroom!” Myka screeches._

_“Ho-ho-ho!” Pete grips the pillow tight._

_Both their eyes are frantic as they look at the bed and then at each other._

_“Why are we in Artie’s bedroom, naked?!” Myka yells._

_“I don’t know. Why were you in bed with me?”_

_“I was not in bed with you! You were in bed with me! Naked!” She waves her hand at him wildly._

_Pete points at her. “You’re naked too!”_

_Myka cringes as she looks at the bed. “Oh.”_

“What-“ Steve started but Claudia shushed him from across the room.

_“And why are you blonde?” Pete asks._

_“I’m not blonde!” Myka sees the long blonde locks over her shoulder and grabs them. “Oh my god, oh my god, I’m blonde! What did you do?”_

_Pete shakes his head. “Hey, don’t blame me. I mean, I’m good, but I’ve never changed a woman’s hair color.”_

_“Pete, we did not. We did not do it, did we?” Myka begs._

_“I don’t remember,” Pete fearfully replies._

_“Did we get drunk?”_

_“No!” Pete waves his hand across in front of him. “No, no. I know hangovers and I do not feel hungover.”_

_“Me neither. There must be some simple explanation, why you and I would be in bed. Together,” she pauses as her whole face winces. “Naked.”_

_Pete slowly pulls back Artie’s bed sheet and sees his toothbrush._

_“With Artie’s toothbrush.” A panicking look flashes across her face._

_Pete jumps back from the bed with a disgusted frown._

Pete watched his past self and still felt a sense of relief in knowing what the toothbrush was for. He blinked and Past Myka and Pete flickered away just as easily as they appeared.

For a moment everyone was silent, a stunned sort of silence.

“And what is the simple explanation?” Helena spoke first, her voice less frightening but it still held an edge when she continued, “Because, I believe you two said you never-“

“This wasn’t because of the artifact that made us fall in love,” Pete replied. “This was way before that.”

The expression he was met with on Helena’s face instantly informed him that he hadn’t helped himself.

“We didn’t sleep together!” Myka blurted out, her hand falling down from her face, her body was jerking at odd angles as she walked around the bench. She looked frantic, more so than Past Myka. “Helena…”

It was instantaneous the second Helena caught Myka’s distressed expression, she dropped the durational spectrometer on the bench and stood up, her hand reaching out for Myka, the dangerous glare melting away.

“Myka, I…I believe you…it was just a bit of a shock, couldn’t help the gut reaction.”

Myka leaned in towards Helena, her body relaxing. “Oh, god, it was horrible when we thought…” Myka stumbled, unable to get the words out.

“I feel like shock is an understatement,” Claudia said.

“As is the word ‘horrible’,” Steve added. “No one else was on this side with me, he really needed another pillow for behind, I saw Pete’s…” Steve winced painfully.

“Hey!” Pete called out, his feet finally moving as he stepped up. “I have a very nice butt and anything else you saw is just as-“

“Pete,” Myka stressed. “Not now.”

“Right, right,” he waved his hands out in front of him. “Everyone keep cool.” He caught Helena’s gaze and was thankful that the darkness in her eyes was dimming and did not speak of his impending doom. “It was an artifact accident okay, it made us feel really, really, drunk without a drop of alcohol and we blacked out. But we used the spectrometer and I promise you all that happened was we slept.”

“And Artie doesn’t know?” Claudia asked. 

“Do you think Artie knows we slept naked in his bed?” Pete threw back.

Claudia shrugged. “Okay, you are right, you guys are both still breathing.”

“But…his toothbrush,” Steve mumbled, his wince turning into a disgusted grimace.

Claudia screwed her face up into a scowl. “Yeah…that’s just…wrong…”

“Yes,” Helena nodded as she leaned in towards Myka with a concerned over-played frown. “Perhaps, I have been wrong about the items one is to use to please their partner in this century.”

“Helena!” Myka hissed.

“Myka, darling, I am only wishing to learn-“

“Stop!” Myka raised her hand up. “Just stop-“

“Uh, Mykes, I kind of prefer joking Helena over wants to get rid of me Helena, let her do her thing,” Pete said.

Helena raised one perfect eyebrow. “Who said I was joking? There is still much I am to learn about this-“

“Helena! I am pleased; you please me, especially without dental hygiene in the bed!”

And Pete thanked all of his survival instincts for not making a certain kind of dam joke.

“Guys! Seriously, what did you do with the toothbrush?!” Claudia yelled out. “I need an answer because my traitorous brain is thinking a lot of things that I didn’t think were possible and I hate it and- Ah!” She jerked back from the rug she was standing on.

“What happened?” Steve asked with concern.

“I just got shocked,” Claudia replied.

“How-“

But before Steve could finish speaking Past Pete blinked back into existence and stumbled around at the foot of the bed with a goofy expression. 

“And this would be when?” Steve asked instead.

Past Pete hiccupped. 

“Well, I don’t remember this, but my best bet would be when I was drunk due to the artifact and right before what you just saw.”

Past Myka who was very blonde, stumbled out of the bathroom suddenly, and was holding Artie’s toothbrush with a ridiculous smile.

“It’s the toothbrush,” Claudia whispered, her tone both fearful and in awe.

“Oh, no,” Myka mumbled before face palming again, her one eye just barely peeking through her fingers to watch. 

_“DNA, a-okay…I’m rhyming.” Myka laughs drunkenly at herself and stumbles to the bed._

“Okay, toothbrush aside, I think artifact drunk Myka is actually my favorite,” Claudia loudly whispered as she watched, a small grin breaking out on her face. “You’re kind of ridiculously cute.”

Myka grumbled, “I have no recollection of any of this and my life was better for it.”

_Past Myka wobbles as she makes it to the bed, a flurry of cartoon expressions passing on her face as she focuses on the task._

“I must agree, you are indeed very adorable,” Helena leaned into Myka again. 

Myka groaned as Helena smiled and Pete was glad to see the author was now watching the car crash of a memory with a lively sort of interest.

_“I remember this feeling.” Pete giggles and closes his eyes. “It’s getting dark and fuzzy and har-“ He stretches his mouth wide as his eyes blink open. “Hard to speak.”_

“I’m I adorable?” Pete asked Helena.

Helena glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “You are…there.”

_Myka stands up on the bed and tilts over slightly before catching herself. “Don’t worry, because that guy is gone and we…” She sits on the bed and points the toothbrush at him. “We can sleep in tomorrow.”_

“Okay, you are, certainly, adorable, Myka,” Steve added as they watched.

“Everyone just …” Myka groaned. “…no.”

_“-he’s chubby, and he’s grouchy, and he’s more eyebrow than man,” Myka says as Pete slumps forward on to the bed._

Claudia laughed out loud, her hand catching her stomach. “Good one, Myka.”

_“I’m not so solid on your name either. Something with a ‘W’,” Pete mumbles into the sheets._

_“Pete, remember? That thingy, that thingy with the juggle balls said that the juggle balls make you drunk and black out and when you black out you forget things, don’t you?”_

_“Oh, my God. Holy crap, Wendy.” Pete gets up from the bed and runs his hands down his face. “Oh, my God. You are so right. Oh, if we don’t remember what happened to Mr. Poopy Pants, he could be lost in there forever.”_

“Wait, what?” Steve asked, suddenly serious.

Pete shifted his eyes away from him. 

_“We should write ourselves a note,” Myka softly suggests._

_Pete snaps his fingers at her and stumbles to the desk._

Steve jumped out of the way. “Whoa!”

“What?” Claudia asked.

“It was kind of like something invisible pushed me back out of the way as he went by,” Steve replied.

_Pete keeps moving forward and stumbles to the desk, he crashes into it and makes a ton of noise._

_“Be careful,” Myka moans from the bed as she starts to take her shoe off._

_Pete grabs a random piece of paper from the desk. “Okay.” He stumbles back to the bed and hands it to Myka. “Here we go. Here we go.”_

_Myka groans loudly as she takes her other shoe off._

_Pete hands her the piece of paper, a scrap from a book. “Did I leave anything out?”_

_Myka looks at it. “It’s French.”_

“Such a smart little artifacted drunk,” Claudia awed.

_“Hmmm,” Pete hums._

_Myka’s head starts to bob down, her eyes getting sleepy. “Pete, quick, quick, take off all your clothes!”_

_“What?”_

_Myka starts undressing._

“Whoa, now,” Steve raised his hand up and covered his eyes. “What is happening?”

“They’re undressing,” Helena answered, her voice fluctuating back to the sharp edge.

“There’s a reason,” Myka mumbled, her one eye still peeking through her fingers.

_“Take them off,” Myka instructs._

_Pete starts to take his shirt off. “Okay, but sometimes, when big, when…” His shirt gets caught over his face. “Big Pete drives a truck…” The shirt finally gets over his head but catches on his hair. “Little Pete doesn’t always stay on the road.” He points at Myka._

“I might vomit,” Claudia said with a disgusted look.

_Myka swings her legs over her head on the bed and pulls her pants off._

“Okay, I’m back to cracking up,” Claudia said. “This is a whirlwind of emotion.”

_Pete continues to take his clothes off and stumbles into the bed._

Presented with several live flashbacks to his life was definitely a bizarre experience. There was something curious about seeing this Pete, a memory he had no recollection of, it wasn’t entirely off-putting but something did twist in his stomach for a moment, because this drunk Pete didn’t necessarily embarrass him, it also, surprisingly, didn’t throw him directly down the tunnel of darker memories, of times when regular old drinking Pete was no one’s friend, let alone an amusing event. It was more like for a moment he hovered by that tunnel entrance, the twist a quick refresh. But the thing of it was he could take this current predicament with a grain of salt, he hadn’t had a drop of alcohol at the time, and afterwards it hadn’t caused him to relapse, if anything it reminded him of the horror of black outs. And it sort of warmed his heart, that even drunk Myka was sound enough to remind him he wasn’t that Pete of those darker times that she knew he worried about. It was a tailspin of emotion that lasted maybe fifteen seconds before he relaxed again, because he understood why this was funny, particularly past Myka and he wasn’t going to take that away, in fact he took it as a good sign that for the most part everyone was pretty relaxed about what they were seeing despite his history, because facts were facts, and artifacts were artifacts, and he certainly wasn’t going to trip up himself again all on his own. It was kind of nice that everyone was secure with it, or more to the point that he was.

Because the past was the past and maybe it was best to just think of this as live theatre.

Horrible, horrible live theatre.

But at least, it was outside himself.

The Past Myka and Pete disappeared again just as the last bits of clothing were coming off and all the tangled bed sheets and the messed up desk went back to their original state.

“Okay, again the toothbrush?” Claudia pressed.

“The explanation in general?” Helena delicately asked. Pete could tell she was making an effort to keep her voice light. “Something pertaining to juggle balls?”

“And why are you blonde, Myka?” Claudia continued. “I feel like I would remember you doing your hair like that.”

“I know,” Steve voiced suddenly, his tone deathly still, a dark glower forming on his face directed towards Pete and Myka. “Mr. Poopy Pants? Lost forever? Myka’s hair, oh, I remember now. It was like my second or so week here and you and Myka were teaching me tesla shooting and then you guys started acting really weird and were using artifacts for your own amusement.”

“What? They would never, especially not Myka,” Claudia said in surprise.

“She did, I caught her using Marilyn Monroe’s hairbrush, she said it was way better than a salon,” Steve replied.

“Myka!” Claudia gasped. “Blonde really isn’t your look though, kind of washes-“

“We were under the influence of W.C. Fields juggling balls, okay, we had no idea what we were doing,” Myka replied fervently.

“Mr. Poopy Pants,” Steve repeated with his death stare.

“Calm, down, Steve,” Pete tried. “It was just an artifact accident, we didn’t lose you forever. And I think it sort of says somewhat that you didn’t realize we’d been whammied, rookie and all, kind of your fa-“

“Pete,” Myka cut in, every word she was saying still sounded caught between a groan.

“I want an explanation, because nothing really did add up that night. Next thing I know we’re in the bronze sector and I didn’t realize until later how much time had passed but you were back to normal and I didn’t….I was still new and…”

“Please, put Steve out of his misery before he combusts,” Claudia interrupted. “And the-“

“The toothbrush, yeah, yeah, I got it, Claudia.” Pete shook his head back and forth.

“It was an accident, it’s still all very fuzzy but,” Myka mumbled. “A tesla shot went off while we were training and it knocked the juggling balls off the shelf and Pete and I caught them quickly because we were worried we’d lose them and then we started to feel weird…”

“And this is maybe the part where you should have caught on, Steve, since we weren’t wearing gloves,” Pete said.

Steve added an extra layer of gloom to his already well-established glare. “I was new and I didn’t really know you yet, just before that you had lifted your shirt up and told me I could look all I wanted because you found out I was gay, I didn’t have a lot to go with on what was normal behavior and not.”

“That’s true.” Myka nodded at Pete.

“Anyways, I guess Mykes and me got up to a lot of trouble and Steve was trying to get us to not do the trouble and we may have tricked him into…” Pete squished his face up, he sensed this was a tentative subject, especially from the way Myka was nervously eyeing Helena. “We tricked him into going into the bronzer.”

“That I remember.” Steve jutted his chin out.

“And we bronzed you.”

“That…that I wasn’t…sure about,” Steve replied with a confused look.

“You were only bronzed for a few hours, it may have seemed like no time had passed, but we tried to unbronze you right away, we weren’t really in the best mind set, and we tried to undo it but…”

“We didn’t have authorization,” Myka continued quietly. “Our DNA wasn’t working. We needed Artie’s.”

“Oh, thank god, the toothbrush,” Claudia exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Yes.” Myka nodded at her, her arms lifting up and crossing around her mid section tightly, a wary look on her face as she glanced back at Helena. Helena’s face was impassive and Pete could not tell what she was thinking.

“But then…” Myka paused. “We started to feel tired as you saw and I knew we’d forget what we did, so we…got naked because I knew it would make sober me figure out what the hell happened because we’d-“

“We’d never ever sleep together,” Pete finished. “And boy, did it work, we retraced all our steps and found Steve.” Pete glanced at the slightly stunned Steve. “Ah, yeah, sorry, buddy.”

“We didn’t mean to…we shouldn’t have bronzed you,” Myka added softly. “That wasn’t right.”

Steve’s left eyebrow twitched and then his right cheek, he blinked twice and a clear look shined in his eyes and he strangely smiled. “It’s actually, okay, I mean not totally, but I feel better now.”

“What?” Claudia asked in surprise.

“Well, it’s always kind of bugged me about what happened, Myka and Pete never explained and I was anxious for those first few weeks wondering if they were going to have another mood swing like that. After working here and getting to know them and how things work, I always suspected it was something artifacty.”

“Why didn’t you just ask us?” Pete asked.

Steve shrugged. 

“Steve likes boundaries,” Claudia supplied. “It causes inner conflict with the other part of him that wants answers.”

Steve shrugged again. “Would you two have even told me? Just because I can catch a lie, doesn’t mean you would have even given an answer. I imagine we’re only knowing all of this because we just saw part of it with our own eyes.”

“I wanted to go to my grave with that,” Myka murmured. “So, yes, sorry, Steve.”

Steve nodded. “I figure it’s even now, seeing that.”

Helena was noticeably quiet, her hand reached out and caressed Myka’s arm and Myka slowly untangled her crossed arms and leaned into her touch.

“And, H.G., you don’t need that stick anymore, right?” Pete asked carefully.

Helena slowly set her gaze on him. “If that had continued to be my desire, you would not be coherent enough to ask me that question right now.”

“Ah, there’s the scary H.G. that still pops up now and then, just wanted to make sure you weren’t turning too soft, we need that menacing aura for any future enemies,” he replied.

Myka leaned down and whispered something in Helena’s ear. Helena’s shoulders slumped a little and she rolled her eyes as she look back at him. “I would have left you coherent for the most part.”

“Aww, that is what friendship is all about.” Pete clapped his hands. “So, everyone good? We can move on from this, because I’d really like too.”

Everyone nodded his or her head in agreement.

“Continuing from before, any other ideas since the durational spectrometer is a bust?” Pete followed up.

Claudia raised her hand up. “Uh, before we answer maybe we should all start to exit Artie’s bedroom, I’m weirdly thankful for which memory presented itself, so let’s go before any other-“

“Good idea,” Steve interrupted quickly and started to lead the way out and down.

“Yeah, I bet if anything else happened, you’d be thankful for my nice pert butt-“

“Pete,” Myka said, the tone implying everything.

“Right, right,” he mumbled. “I’m just saying.”

“Stop saying,” Helena spoke up from behind him.

“Guys, come on-“

“Zip it, Pete,” Claudia jumped in. 

Pete sighed and mumbled under his breath, “I think I have a nice butt. I work hard for my butt.”

 

“Whoa,” Steve remarked as they one by one descended the staircase back into the office.

“Double whoa,” Pete exclaimed as he took in the destruction.

“Must have been the crash we heard.” Steve walked towards the desk, a very different desk than what they had left.

“Ahhhhhh! My baby,” Claudia cried out from behind them as she rushed forward. “What happened?” Her arms reached out and tentatively grasped the charred computer monitor. It was an ugly ashy mess, a split right down the screen, and splotches of inky black bubbling on the blank surface with a flake of soapy white glistening on each top. Claudia pulled her hand back and a piece of the monitor’s frame came off and a small high-pitched gasp escaped her lips.

“Oh, dear,” Helena said as she and Myka approached the desk.

‘Oh, dear’ was putting it nicely. There was a long dark scorch mark on the ground traveling from the open door towards the desk, through the computer monitor and carrying on along the carpet on the other side.

“At least nothing is on fire,” Pete found himself saying with a shrug.

“Yet,” Steve murmured.

“Claudia,” Myka reached up and laid her hand on her shoulder. “You need to breathe.”

“I’m…I…not…b..reath..ing?” Claudia gasped at her in surprise. Myka whacked her on the back and she inhaled deeply. “Uh…thanks.”

Helena’s head popped up from under the desk and all of them except Myka jumped a little in surprise, they hadn’t seen her move from one point to the other.

“Someone put a bell on her,” Pete remarked as he made a point of grabbing his chest dramatically.

Helena frowned at him and then focused on Claudia with a surprisingly pleased expression. “The computer’s hardware is still intact, the search is most likely still running and only the monitor appears damaged by the energy strike.”

“Really?” Claudia smiled wide.

“Really,” Helena echoed Claudia.

“So we just need another monitor, hook it up, and our baby is back to running!”

“That would be the hope.” Helena stood up, her limbs all one envious fluid motion.

“Good thing the strike didn’t ruin Artie’s keyboard.” Steve ran his hand over the steampunk keys delicately. 

“Yeah, might as well pack it in now if that was the case,” Pete laughed, albeit a little nervously.

“Do we need a new monitor or can you access the search from your laptop maybe?” Myka asked.

“Probably not, the whole point was the power source is stronger here from this system, it is directly hooked in and less influenced by the Warehouse’s energy, plus I’d have to take time to hack into it from my laptop and-“

“Hey, are you feeling all right?” Steve asked. “You just said it would…take…time…to…hack…into something.”

Claudia rolled her eyes. “Believe it or not the Warehouse security is pretty updated now, thanks in part to me, and there are protocols in place even for me and Artie doesn’t like too many points of entry if you get my drift and with the energy and power source being all wonky in here, I’m being…mature…” She nodded ecstatically after a pause. “Yes, mature, and not less skillful, in admitting it probably wouldn’t be the best choice.”

“Ah, maturity.” Pete tilted his chin down at her. “Sucks don’t it.”

“It gets worse doesn’t it?” she asked.

“Yes, and your bones will ache when it rains, you know…until you become all caretakery.”

“Okay, where can we get a new monitor fast?” Myka asked.

“I’ve got some old ones stored in H.G.’s lab.”

There was a churning in Pete’s stomach, a sort of light swish and he felt his chest tighten. His gaze traveled out the open door to the balcony.

“I’m getting a vibe, guys.”

“Bad or good?” Myka asked.

“I don’t know actually, it’s just…” The feeling was gone, but he found his feet taking him in the direction of the balcony. “More like a we gotta move vibe.”

“Pete?”

He swallowed dryly at the scene that met him on the other side of the door. “Guys, you’re going to want to see this,” he called out from the balcony, his hands gripping the railing.

“What in the fourth of July?!” Claudia exclaimed as she and the others joined him.

“It is…certainly a light show,” Helena followed up.

“A safe light show?” Steve asked a little bitingly.

A crackle of light sizzled in the air just in front of them and Pete jumped back, his eyes glancing over the landscape and the various pockets of energy that were hovering over the stacks, too many to count.

Myka closed the door to the office and stepped beside him. “This can’t be good.”

“Think every spot of activity means there’s a memory acting up?” he asked.

“That would be the logical conclusion,” Helena answered.

“Again, and the logical conclusion after the fried ladder and computer monitor is that we’re safe?” Steve asked, his voice higher than usual.

Helena remained quiet; a contemplative look on her face and Steve’s distress grew.

“Claudia, are you getting anything from the Warehouse?” Myka asked. 

“Not really,” Claudia shrugged. “I mean, it’s weird but I don’t feel scared or sense anything. Maybe, just…” She looked out over the stacks. “ A little concern. The Warehouse isn’t angry or having a meltdown, I’d definitely know about that. It still feels safe.”

“We need to find the artifact,” Helena voiced. “We still do not understand anything or what the downside-“

“Besides embarrassment,” Steve interjected and Myka nodded in agreement. “Which is a downside all on its own.”

“Feelings aside, Steve, if each of those pockets of energy that are moving around represent an active memory that is concerning for other reasons,” Helena continued.

“Theories?” Pete asked.

“As Steve remarked in Artie’s bedroom, he was thrust out of the way, these memories occupy space, and so far things do return to normal but as they grow…who knows how powerful they will be, two things fighting to occupy the same space, or even more than two.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Claudia frowned. “How can we even narrow this down, the events are so random and-“

“Not entirely random,” Myka said. “The memories we have been seeing…they are occurring in their previous locations. Every aisle, and the office and Artie’s bedroom, that is where those memories occurred in the first place, it must be picking up on the energy of those locations, but…” she trailed off. “I have no idea what it means, but there does seem to be some pattern…” she paused as she glanced back out at the stacks. “Or not.”

“Perhaps, we all need to retrace our steps from today, you, Pete,” Helena focused on him. “You told Artie that you, Myka and Steve had been doing inventory on the physicists and photography aisles.”

“Well, they’re not specific aisles per say, we can’t have every physicists or photography item together because of them acting up, they are spread out through here, but a good deal of the items on the list were related, I was just generalizing but- Oh!” He jumped on the spot. “I was instructed to move some stuff around, I wore gloves, but maybe that thingy was acting up on where best to place items, maybe that’s what has got the Warehouse’s buzz on.”

“The thingy?” Myka asked sarcastically.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, read the manual, remember what I read in the manual when I do, yada, yada.”

“It’s been over six years.”

Pete rolled his eyes. “And wouldn’t it suck to break our tradition now.”

“It’s possible,” Helena continued, the contemplative look growing. “It isn’t an exact science the process.”

“Leena,” Claudia spoke up softly. “She always knew, but even she said sometimes it would take a few placements to get the right balance with the artifacts.”

“Oh, Leena would be totally schooling us right now,” Pete smiled kindly at Claudia, he could see the encroaching shadow in her eyes and he felt the urge to chase it away.

Claudia’s lips twitched up just a fraction. “She really would.”

“So,” he leaned over and wrapped his arm around her and pulled them towards the stairs. “Let’s go be top notch Warehouse agents and make her proud and get in tune with our surroundings, investigate our steps and swing by H.G.’s lab and it’s a done deal.”

Claudia smirked at him. “She was the positive one wasn’t she?”

“Yes, so let’s take chances, make mistakes, get messy…and solve this baby.”

“Okay, dude, she wasn’t Mrs. Frizzle, Pete,” Claudia remarked with half a laugh.

“Yeah, that may have been a dream I had, anyways let’s go show that we learned something from her.”

Claudia squeezed him back lightly before descending the stairs.

“Oh!” he looked over his shoulder and back at Claudia. “Before we go down there, any past moments anyone wants to get off their chest in case we accidently run into them? Clear the air now sort of thing?”

No one said anything; just four other perfectly timed blinks were his answer.

“So…we’re just all hoping for the best then, okay,” he nodded and headed down the stairs. “Please,” he whispered to himself and looked up at the Warehouse ceiling. “Don’t show them my Bjork swan dress incident.” He crossed his fingers in front of him.

“What was that?” Myka asked from behind him.

“Nothing,” he coughed and uncrossed his fingers. “Just needed to clear my throat. Nothing at all.”

 

“Sooooooooo,” Pete said.

“Shut up,” Steve grumbled.

The five of them stood in a row in front of the three stacks they’d done inventory on earlier and an awkward silence hung in the air.

“Listen, Steve it wasn’t-“

“I said, be quiet,” Steve shot him an evil look. “Please.”

Pete raised his hands up. “Okay, okay, I’m just saying it wasn’t that bad just now seeing past you-“

“I’ll take this aisle,” Steve walked forward. “Alone.” He vanished into the aisle with a passing sour look.

“Jeez, the guy had some good pipes back there, and I totally understand mistaking the fruit for not an artifact, Carmen Miranda’s hat looks super tasty-“

“I think Steve would prefer it if we moved on,” Helena said. “Even though I am confounded on why one would wear a hat made of food. Doesn’t seem practical…unless one were to take a long trip…but it would eventually rot…”

“Fashion, remember,” he threw his hands up in the air. “Unpractical.”

“Okay,” Myka said, a small smile on her face. “You continue explaining the dynamics of fruit hats to H.G. down your aisle, while Claudia and I take my previous aisle.”

“Meet you on the other side.” Claudia gave a little wave as they disappeared down the stacks.

Pete turned to Helena. “I really don’t have anything to add about fruit hats. They’re hats…with fruit.”

“Very well,” Helena pulled out a neutralizing bag from her back pocket. “You are sure all the items you moved are small enough for the bags?”

“Yes, and if not we can grab the neutralizing cans over by the gooery.”

“Let’s get started.”

“Sure thing.” He pulled on a set of gloves and unscrambled his paper list from his morning’s job and they got to work.

 

“Well, this has been tedious and unsuccessful,” Helena murmured as they placed the last artifact an antique looking calculator back in its spot.

“Yup, nadda on the acting up front.”

“It is very quiet-“

“Oh, don’t say that, H.G.,” he moaned.

And not a second too late a shot of traveling light burned right above them, the lights flickering as it went by.

“Great,” he drawled as he watched the light go.

“Calm, down,” Helena said. “It is only a past version of Myka walking very determinedly.”

“What?” he turned around and felt his heart leap out of his chest. “Dear God,” he squeaked and yanked Helena back behind him and flattened himself against the shelf.

“Pete,” Helena’s muffled voice came from behind him. “Did you just exhibit a sound akin to a small mouse?"

“Yes.”

“What-“

“That’s not Myka,” he whispered.

“Well not Myka can’t see or hear you, so stop whispering so close to me and step back.”

“Shhh,” he snipped back.

“Peter.” A well placed poke to his ribs and he finally shuffled away from her but kept his own body as close to the shelf as he could.

“What’s got you so spooked?”

He held his breath as the Past Not Myka approached them. The familiar matching of the black trench coat and high heels, the wild curls, the dark make-up, the traitorous red lip stick, it was all there to recall, to see, and to top it off there was the hammer gripped firmly and the murderous gaze. 

“That’s not Myka,” he stressed again, his voice hushed and panicked.

Helena was squinting at him in confusion, her eyes sliding back towards the oncoming walking memory. “It looks like Myka.” She tilted her head as she observed and the expression on her face changed.

“Get that look off of your face right now,” he hissed.

She blinked at him in surprise. “What look?”

“Oh, I know that look, Myka knows that look, it’s the, ‘Oh, this is kind of hot’ look, the ‘Oh, in-between all the death and peril, Myka as Mrs. Dark would have been hot’ kind of look.”

Helena gaped at him, her mouth not closing, and a clear sign of guilt.

“I don’t-“

He snapped his finger at her. “You do. And I get it. But this right here…” He practically squealed as Past Not Myka walked right by them, the hammer spinning in her hand as she stalked by. All dark eyebrows arched, hungry eyes glistening with tempting crimson lips of deceit. Helena’s eyes drifted lower and lower as the specter went, long bare legs slinking away, hips swaying, and Pete slapped her up the back of the head lightly.

Helena spun around with an enraged look. “Do you have a death wish?”

“No, but you do, that right there,” he pointed after Past Not Myka as she disappeared around the stacks. “That is death and peril on two legs, two very fine legs but-” He waved his arm out in front of him in distress. “Look, I know it looks like hot kind of death and peril but believe me it’s pure crazy, like kiss of death pure-“

“You are babbling again, get to the point,” she snapped.

“That’s Alice,” he exhaled. “Alice Liddell inside Myka’s body, like insane Alice from-“

“The mirror,” Helena finished as a look of realization dawned on her.

“Yes,” he nodded eagerly, thankful that she was on board. “Wait, how do you know-“

“It is as though you forget despite your old age jokes that I belonged to a Warehouse before this one. I am aware of Lewis Carol’s mirror and Alice troubles. And I believe I read of the incident in Myka’s file when I was doing research-“

“Espionage,” he coughed.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “The point is, I am aware and you could have made your point earlier.”

“You mean before you ogled her ass.”

He thought for a second his death wish was about to come to be but Helena deflated a little and she nodded. “Yes,” she said in a slightly embarrassed tone. She looked back down the direction Past Alice had gone. “Where was she going looking so purposeful?”

“Purposeful, what a nice way of putting murderous. She was on her way to destroy the mirror so her and Myka couldn’t switch back and basically kill any of us that got in her way.”

Helena nodded slowly. “I see.”

“Yes, she is bad news.”

“But obviously, you knew how to stop her,” Helena said. “And what did you mean by kiss of death?”

Pete blinked. “Uhh…well actually it was a good thing, a kiss of saving all our asses due to realization.”

“That is a mouthful.”

He reached up and scratched at his chin. “We were on a mission together, Myka Alice, or Alice Myka-“

“I understand.”

“And anyways, she was sticking around, playing me because she wanted the artifact we were after and we were detailing the suspects and when we almost got caught she kissed me. It was a means of distraction sure, but it eventually occurred to me that Myka, the Myka I knew would never ever kiss me even as a distraction in the field.”

Helena smiled. “Indeed, what a slip up for Alice.”

“It was a slip of something that’s for sure,” he replied and then caught himself. “Anyways,” he coughed. “Don’t mention what we saw to Myka. I know she’s cool with carnivals still and the father of science fiction, that being you, and all despite the…trying times, but she never talks about Alice in Wonderland anymore, that’s a book and topic off the table.”

“I recognize the sensitive subject matter,” Helena nodded. 

“Good, now just let me…” he shook all over, his shoulders shrugging and his arms flailing. Helena’s eyes widened as she gazed at him in shock. “What? I needed to get rid of the heebie jeebies.”

Without a sound, Helena spun back around on her heel and proceeded to the end of the aisle.

“Hey!” He half-jogged to catch up to her. “Wait.”

Helena turned to go down the aisle beside them but both Myka and Claudia tumbled around the corner with matching frazzled looks. Steve joined them from the other side, an equally shocked expression frozen on his face.

“You guys see something?” Pete asked.

The three of them shook their heads side to side. He suspected if any of them spoke the lie would have caused Steve to short-circuit. 

“You?” Myka mumbled.

Pete and Helena shared a look and then wordlessly shook their heads back and forth.

At least they were all on the same page.

“Okay, what about active artifacts?” he asked.

“Nope, we neutralized all the ones that were on the inventory list but they didn’t need to be neutralized at all,” Claudia answered. “No flare ups.”

“Same…” Steve cleared his throat. “Same for me.”

“Ughh…” Claudia droned. “I really hate that technology is failing us right now.”

“You mean, more to the point you,” Steve nodded at her.

“Well, yeah, it’s an insult.”

“In my time, we could not always rely on such things,” Helena said, in what was a peculiar attempt at being optimistic. 

“Really? You telling me, there were times you didn’t use any of your gadgets in getting something done,” Claudia threw back. 

Helena blinked thoughtfully. “Give me a moment.”

“Ughhh…” Claudia continued.

“Maybe, after we get the monitor and the search back on track we go back to where this started and…” Myka paused and desperation flashed across her face. “And…well…just spray everything with goo and if that doesn’t work, come down here and spray everything.”

“Is this like your Plan G?” Pete asked. “Just spray the entire Warehouse in goo.”

“I have no plans, it is no doubt, just my plan A,” Myka answered regretfully. “A tentative plan.”

Pete shrugged. “I guess we should all load up on goo.”

“That could take a long time,” Steve voiced.

Helena pulled her sleeve back and looked at her wristwatch. “It is actually already far into the evening.”

“How far?” Steve asked.

“I feel I should not say,” Helena eyed him with concern.

Claudia leaned over and read the time on Helena’s wrist. “Wow, time has kind of flown by.” She smiled brightly and shrugged when everyone looked at her in surprise. “What? It’s kind of been fun…crazy fun, I’m I right, Pete?”

“Let’s keep it just fun and…” he shared a look with Helena. “Just regular fun.”

“That sounded like a curiously loaded sentence,” Myka narrowed her eyes at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he shrugged playfully as he tried to get his body to loosen up after the Past Alice shock. “We should continue on-“ He was interrupted as a loud boom erupted in the distance somewhere and an alarm started to go off.

“What is that?” Steve yelled.

Claudia’s eyes widened. “That’s the gooery alarm.”

“Oh, no,” Myka said. “Not again.”

“Again?” Steve repeated.

“No, no, it should be fine,” Claudia held her hands up in front of her and somehow the alarm stopped blaring. She looked off into the distance in surprise. “I should probably still go and check that out.” She scrambled off suddenly.

“Claudia!” Steve called out but he was already following after her.

“Okay, I’ll go with them because no idea what has happened and remember last time with the gooery,” Pete said hurriedly. “The more the better.”

Myka nodded. “Helena and I will grab the supplies from her lab and we’ll meet you back at the office.”

“Good idea, hopefully you guys can get the system operational a-s-a-p.”

“That would be ideal,” Helena remarked as she caught Myka’s elbow and pulled her in the other direction.

“We got this,” Pete called out to Myka.

“Totally,” she affirmed.

And Pete could tell it was only about half of a lie for both of them.

It was an improvement.

 

“I thought we were in a rush,” Pete said as he caught up to Claudia and Steve, who were standing still in another aisle.

“Look,” Claudia breathed out, the one word somehow catching. 

Pete followed her gaze over Steve’s shoulder and felt his own breath stalling; his chest squeezed tight and any other words vanished from the tip of his tongue. His eyes were greedily drinking in the scene halfway down the aisle where a Past Artie and a Past Leena were talking.

Claudia darted forward, her gait caught between excitement and caution but she slid up beside the two as close as she could. 

Steve was quiet as both he and Pete followed.

_“Artie, stop moving around so much,” Leena remarks and a laugh tumbles out of her mouth._

“She looks so real,” Claudia whispered. “She sounds…”

_Arties grumbles, “This is not my fault.”_

_“I didn’t say it was.”_

Past Leena stepped back and revealed more of Past Artie who was caught against the shelf, his hands, legs and head connected to a set of very fine wires, the wires themselves attached to two crossing wooden sticks hanging above him in the air. His arms and legs were being pulled as unseen hands moved the sticks about.

_“Your eyes say it,” Artie mopes. “And your smile.”_

_“Now you are just reading into things.”_

_Artie sighs, “Fine. I am projecting a little, can you please help me before any of them see me?”_

_“Who in particular?”_

_“That devil child, she would never let me hear the end of it.”_

_Leena smiles wider. “Someone’s self-conscious.”_

_Artie rolls his eyes. “It means nothing.”_

_“You enjoy Claudia, and frankly, the grumpier you are the more it shows.”_

_Artie’s right hand pops up and then his left in a crude jazz hands formation._

_“I know…I know…but it’s only been two weeks of her being here and she can’t see…”_

_“The fallout of you touching Anton Aicher’s puppet?” Leena steps towards the shelf and reads the log screen._

_“I didn’t touch it, it fell on me. I was not expecting the founding Artistic Director of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre’s work to hit me in the head. And I’m starting to get tired.”_

_Artie’s legs start to dance as the wires dip._

_Leena glances at the floor as she puts on some purple gloves. “Probably, should keep this to ourselves, doesn’t sound like our safety precautions are up to standard.”_

_“See,” Artie says. “That, that is you using your words in other sneaky ways to make fun of me.”_

_“Artie, I have no idea what you mean.” Her smile grows._

_Artie deflates. “It rolled over under the shelf just behind me.”_

_Leena bends down and finds the puppet. “This little fellow was who was giving you all the trouble.”_

_“That and the little fellow back in the office.”_

_“Claudia is updating your system.”_

_Artie sighs. “I know, the regents…there’s been some pressure about the concern of Claudia being here.”_

_“And you are stressed that they will make the wrong decision, I know, but…”_

_“But?”_

_“Mrs. Frederic and I are handling it.”_

_He squints at her and then nods. “Good.”_

_“Claudia has wonderful potential here, she’ll be good for you too. You’ll have to trust me.”_

_“I do,” he nods and then the wire attached to his head jerks his head back up and down in a frantic bob. “Now more than ever, the puppet-“_

_“Yes, I’m on it,” she laughs. “You will survive. There will even be cookies after.”_

_“Pete didn’t eat them all?”_

_“Nope, Myka even snuck some, I pretended I didn’t notice, but I always save a batch for you.”_

_Artie sighs with relief. “Thank you.”_

Claudia broke the silence that followed as Past Leena helped Artie, with a laugh that morphed into a soft sob. And Pete found that same feeling, that same urge traveling up from his chest but he caught it and placed his hand on Claudia’s shoulder, his eyes catching Steve’s as he did the same.

Past Artie and Leena disappeared.

“Claudia,” he started quietly.

Claudia turned to look up at him and he was surprised by the smile on her face. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears but her lips were pulled back and Pete felt his own smile matching her.

“I’m okay,” Claudia breathed out. “It…” she turned back to where they had just seen the past. “It was nice to get to…see that…to see her again…even though…”

“It was,” Steve voiced softly.

“Just caught me by surprise,” Claudia continued.

“Me too,” Pete nodded at her. “But a nice surprise.”

Claudia pursed her lips together and sighed. “Sometimes…I think I forget what she…stuff, you know?”

“I know,” Pete tilted his chin down. “It always feels that way when someone you love passes, but you feel her don’t you, when you think back, when you recall. It was like that with my dad, even with all the pictures in the house, I thought I couldn’t see him right, I wasn’t remembering right, but I could feel how it was to get a hug from him, not the pyshical reaction, but that warm feeling inside, to recall how it felt to have him laugh at something I said. It was never as good as the real thing but it was still there, a tiny bit.”

“…it is like that,” Claudia smile timidly grew back. 

“You don’t forget,” Steve added. “You worry you will, but that…stuff…” He smiled kindly at her. “Bits of it do stay.”

“And, hey, now, you got the goods on Artie too.”

Claudia laughed. “That’s true.”

The three of them were silent for a moment. 

“Well, come on we still have a Warehouse to fix,” Claudia slipped out of their grip. “We gotta do the mature thing.”

“Are you sure you aren’t the senior agent?” Steve asked, a playful tone edging in slowly.

“It’s called potential, Jinksy,” she winked at him and slowly walked down the rest of the aisle, her eyes glancing at where they had just seen Past Artie and Leena briefly with a thoughtful look before moving on.

Pete cleared his throat; he could feel the emotion catching right at the back of it and took Claudia’s cue, cleared it once more and stepped forward.

“To the gooery it is.”

 

“It’s a good sign that the alarm stopped right?” Steve asked as they wound their way through another set of stacks.

“Most likely, but it’s still best to check,” Claudia answered.

Pete caught on to the incoming voices before either of them did, pockets of light were constantly moving about and it was getting harder to tell how often the events were going to pop up.

“Guys, you’re going to want to move out of the way.” He pulled Claudia back and Steve jumped ahead with a confused look.

_"You are like a child-“ Myka yells._

_“You’re like an uptight control freak-“ Pete yells back._

“Oh, past Myka and Pete incoming,” Claudia said.

Past Myka and Pete stormed by but then suddenly stopped in between Pete, Claudia and Steve. Steve was caught on the other side of them as their arguing was gaining speed and they tried to talk over the other.

_“Community College-“ Pete says._

“You guys look like you’re going to rip each other’s faces off,” Claudia observed. 

“It’s going to be fine in a minute,” Pete replied as he heard Past Artie’s voice over the system.

“What did he just say?” Steve asked, his head just peeking over Past Pete’s shoulder trying to catch their gaze.

_“Miss. Community College-“ Myka counters._

_A rain of neutralizing goo falls down from above them and covers them both and they’re immediately silent. Pete wipes the goo off of his face and flicks it at Myka, they pause as they stare at each other. Tension breaks as they both start to laugh and Myka playfully throws Pete to the ground and he pulls her down with him._

Claudia smiled at him. “The early days, eh.”

“Nothings changed too much,” he shrugged with a wink.

Past Pete and Myka vanished and any further conversation was halted as it gave Pete his view back of Steve across from them.

“Uh, oh,” Claudia uttered. 

Steve was quiet as he look down at himself in shock, his entire outfit was covered in purple goo, drops of it splashed across his face and hands and a trail of it was left on the ground just in front of them. It hadn’t disappeared when Past Pete and Myka had.

Steve looked up at them in shock. “What? How?”

Pete and Claudia shared a surprised look; Claudia’s mouth gaped silently. 

“That can’t be good,” Pete said.


	5. Chapter 5

**_“…But you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in Time. For instance, if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence: I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back for a moment…"_**

“Helena,” Myka’s soft voice started to slowly pull her back from her reverie. The patches of familiar inked words that had been marked by her hand once, spilling over and flooding her focus momentarily. 

The Time Machine.

To travel through time, to jump back or forward.

But here it was, time jumping up at every angle, the past infringing on the present, the present no doubt becoming the past and the circle repeating.

Time was a fickle thing in this Warehouse.

The consciousness of it. 

The physicality of it.

And Helena very much knew where she was and why, and how she had come to be in this moment, but so many other moments were threatening to consume, to splat themselves about messily with no order.

“Helena,” Myka shook her arm lightly as they rounded another stack, almost reaching her lab.

“Yes?” she replied, her eyes not entirely focusing on their surroundings, her thoughts travelling back and back.

“What’s wrong?” Myka pulled them both to a stop.

There were so many physical vessels of consciousness fighting for purpose and place around them. Memories long buried springing up and expanding beyond the hold of the mind.

It was not natural.

Helena blinked silently as Myka looked at her with concern.

“Where did you just go?” Myka asked. “What are you thinking-“

“Time,” she blurted out. “I was…” she paused and licked her lips, her focus shifting back and forth. “I was…pondering the present phenomenon further.”

“This isn’t time travel,” Myka replied.

“No,” Helena grabbed her arm. “But memory, Myka, memory itself a vessel. Too many conscious entities existing at once.”

“Helena,” Myka stepped closer, her body angling towards hers. “You have a sort of…fevered look about you.”

“I’m sorry,” she blinked twice again and her eyes finally sought refuge on Myka in front of her. “It’s just this is quite a rare possibility, a rare possibility that could have endless outcomes.”

“Well, that is saying something considering where we currently are and what surrounds us.” Myka tilted her head in thought. “And what has that brain of yours cooked up on what the outcomes could be?”

“Memory,” Helena exhaled quietly. 

Myka narrowed her eyes. “Memory?”

“Memory, why all you have to do is recall, is to think back on one thing, maybe an object, a date, a person and your mind pulls it forward, it brings everything else back in focus and there it is, in your mind, the past to see.” She squeezed Myka’s arm lightly. “But memory…it is not meant to be physical, it is not always so clear for everyone, different spins for different people.”

She could feel it, the point she was grasping, just out of reach as the words laid their path and she could see the sudden worry in Myka’s eyes.

“Myka, these memories, they are not pertaining to just one individual. They are too clear, they are without bias.”

“Okay,” Myka nodded slowly. “I am with you on that.”

“Good, good.” She smiled easily as she saw the concern slowly ebb from Myka’s gaze. “Now, before we left, what memory did you and Claudia see in your aisle of inventory?”

Myka opened her mouth and then slowly closed it.

“We were all lying, come now, what did you see? It’s important.”

“It was Abigail,” Myka said. “A past version, I don’t know the exact timeline but she was…she was unkempt.”

“How so?”

“She was just sort of sitting on the ground, she looked a little disheveled and crying, not sadly, but a bit absurdly…” Myka scrunched her face up. “She kept murmuring about not bringing enough granola bars and looking off into the distance really weirdly. I have no idea what artifact she may have-“

“But it was just Abigail?” 

“Yes, that’s what I just said. Helena, I feel like you are three paces ahead of me, what are you getting at?”

Helena felt the train of thought scurry ahead. “To be fair, it is not unreasonable that Abigail has not been a high component of these memories, she rarely comes down here unless extra assistance is required.”

“Yes, I suppose so, since…” Myka raised her eyebrows up in a sly move. “She definitely has had a lot of other work to keep her busy.”

“Indeed. Therefore, it is not a point of interest that she has not been a common factor in this event, and in comparison, who should have popped up by now in one of these past bursts? Who above all hangs out-“

“Claudia,” Myka answered, her eyes flashing, the green burning brighter as the thought of it connected. “You think this is connected with Claudia?”

“I am not entirely sure, but the evidence cannot be ignored, or the lack of, it is strange is it not, that she has not popped up?”

Myka nodded. “Yes.” Green irises flittered from side to side in thought. “But these aren’t Claudia’s memories, stuff is happening that she wasn’t even witness too.”

“Yes, and that is the thought I cannot entirely narrow down, these are not biased recollections, these are not coming from any of our heads, but it is suspicious that Claudia is not a part of it.”

“It did start with Claudia.”

“That we know of.”

“Do you think we should go back and check on her?”

Helena shook her head. “The best course would be continuing to find the disturbance and see if the system has noted any other alerts that could provide a clue. And Claudia has not shown any symptoms…” she trailed off as Myka’s gaze shifted above them, a spark of light travelled by and off into the distance past a different stack.

“Claudia isn’t but…” Myka tilted her head back down, their eyes locking.

“The Warehouse,” they both said at the same time.

Myka sighed. “This might not even been an artifact issue, this could be a Caretaker dilemma.”

“That is possible, I do wonder where Mrs. Frederic is, she has not shown up and yet the Warehouse is not in order.”

Myka rolled her eyes. “Oh, she never shows up when this stuff happens, just be thankful we aren’t currently listening to a recording of her counting down the seconds to when the Warehouse is going to explode.”

“How many times has the Warehouse almost exploded?”

“Helena, I don’t even know how you can say that in way that implies you are shocked by that notion considering everything that goes on here.”

Helena shook her head. “I see your point.”

“Come on,” Myka continued walking forward. “Let’s get the gear. We can expand on the possibilities of why this is happening while we walk.”

Helena joined her.

“By the way, were you quoting yourself in your head?” Myka asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

Myka grinned at her. “All that memory business and recalling and time.”

“I would hardly call my own recollection of my work as quoting myself.”

The grin on Myka’s face doubled. “Let me guess…” The gold specks in the green of her eyes glowed, flickering like flames of warm bursts of candlelight that wavered as though pages of a book turned over nearby. “Was it the passage…’you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in Time. For instance, if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence: I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back-“

“Yes, yes,” Helena replied, her own smile matching. It occurred to her, that it would be a natural growth in most relationships to start to be annoyed by each other’s ticks that once amused, but Helena only found Myka’s memory, Myka’s ability to pinpoint her thoughts a constant thing of assurance. She would never take it for granted. She would never be annoyed or put off, for it was a wonder she never knew to hope for. To have someone who knew her so well, every part, it was a gift. “But that is hardly as mundane as quoting myself, it is a reorganization of facts.”

The knowing grin on Myka’s face slid into an amused smirk as she nudged Helena’s shoulder with her own. “You need to get some new material.”

“One would only have to acquire new material if the old was obsolete.”

“That’s true, but I know you quote yourself around Pete all the time and he has no idea.”

“I have no idea what you are referring too.”

“Of course.” Myka nodded. “But as you mentioned, time and memory, what about the consciousness?”

“Well you clearly already know my point on that.”

“Something like – ‘There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it.’”

Helena shrugged.

“And what if there is more than one consciousness moving around at the same time, I’m afraid if the past me from my first day were to become aware of what is happening, I can safely bet she wouldn’t be so keen on seeing present day me and thinking it was normal.”

“Yes, how would we define selfhood when too many selves are occupying the same space?”

“This is going to start to give me a headache, I know it.”

“Myka,” Helena said, her pace slowing as she turned Myka around to face her, both of them coming to a stop again. “It has occurred to me…” she found her words stalling.

“What is it?” Myka asked quietly, her gaze searching.

“You have found these events embarrassing have you not?”

Myka narrowed her eyes. “Has that not been obvious? Is my mortification not clear enough, do I need to bring it up a notch? Because communication is key, Helena.”

“I think they have been quite the opposite. Endearing, even.”

“Helena, you just saw me in bed with Pete.” 

“Which is a very disturbing image, but does not cause me great concern.”

Myka blinked at her silently.

Helena rolled her eyes before sighing and leaning up to capture Myka’s lips in a sudden and very heated kiss. She pulled back slowly after a moment, both of them gasping slightly as they caught their breath. The dazed look in Myka’s eyes brought her a great deal of satisfaction.

“What is there to be concerned about in regards to that matter?” she whispered.

Myka licked her lips. “Fair…fair point.”

Another crackle of light sizzled over in the aisle behind them and it snapped back Myka’s attention, the hazy lull started to vanish and Helena wished she could recall it back but knew now was not the time.

“Helena, it has been embarrassing even with your lack of concern. We were naked. Naked. And you, you were naked before.”

“That is true, but you see, it has occurred to me the alternatives that we may come upon.”

“Like?”

“Why we could see Sykes, or even MacPherson or-“ her words started to stumble.

“Or you with MacPherson,” Myka interjected softly. “The you who was newly unbronzed.”

“Yes,” she breathed in deeply. “I’d much prefer the Emperor’s New Clothes me than…seeing…”

“I understand,” Myka reached out and squeezed her arm gently. “But you are not that person anymore.”

“Yes, but it is-“

“Still not something you want to revisit.”

Helena nodded slowly.

“Look, I’m with you on not entirely knowing how these memories are popping up, or why which ones or what the entire downside is but whatever we see, good or bad, we aren’t those versions of ourselves anymore.”

“And I know that on one level, but it still does not lessen my desire to not have to revisit that time period or see that man.”

“Let’s just try to avoid those hot spots, if you can recall any other spots you and he were.”

“I appreciate the idea.”

“And…uh, you know, going back to the whole unbronzing thing, and how you now know Pete and I bronzed Steve, I know that’s not a joke and-“ Myka started to tense up.

“Myka,” Helena leaned in towards her. “I did not mean for us to fall so far down this hole. I am aware of the situation and I know you would never consciously be so flip about the bronzer.”

“Okay, okay, good, I just needed to get it off my chest.”

“Apparently, we both did.”

They both continued their pace from before as they continued down another stack.

“And speaking of that, if we do see MacPherson and you see a version of you almost kissing him-“ Myka began.

“Wait, pardon?”

Myka rubbed the back of her neck, a sheepish expression twisting on her face as she bowed her head down.

“I’m not finished, and then you see that version of you turn into me. You are not imagining things. It’s just I used an artifact to look like you to trick MacPherson and apparently he kind of had a thing-“

“Oh, my, goodness,” Helena spluttered. “You kissed that man!”

“Almost.”

“Myka!”

“It was part of the job.”

“As me?”

“Yes.”

“Myka!”

“What? We were in a hurry. And how would I know that the escaped female H.G. Wells at that time would one day be my girlfriend and I’d then have to explain to her how I used an artifact to look like her to sort of make out with the guy who released her because random memory pockets were showing up years later,” Myka inhaled deeply after she finished speaking.

Helena stared in front of her, the disturbing image settling in her mind and she wished it away immediately.

“Helena? Are you all right? I mean, part of me wasn’t sure you knew or not, you did show up out of the Escher Vault soon after.”

“Myka,” Helena began slowly. “I know perhaps we have gotten into the habit of communicating our concerns but just for the rest of the weekend I think perhaps it is best if we stop sharing so much.”

Myka surprised Helena by laughing out loud. “Oh, you’re finally on board with the mortification, are you?”

“I think maybe, we should just hope for the best and all as a group stop warning each other. If the memories appear then they appear, and if not…if not…”

“We are all for the better,” Myka supplied.

“Very much so.”

“Okay, but concerns and all, I know you’ve been enjoying parts of this, you are on board with Claudia’s outlook of fun just a little bit.”

Helena finally shook her head and pushed MacPherson out of her mind.

“It has been…enlightening, and again, you were so very adorable both as a newly minted agent and-“

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Myka rolled her eyes. 

“Is the common pop culture saying that blondes have more fun true, Pete’s presence of no counting matter?”

Myka flicked her head away from her with a sharp turn of her chin. “I’m ignoring you.”

“No, you aren’t, you just spoke to me. And I merely following the stereotype presented before me much the way you and Pete have with the Victorian nature-“

“I am continuing to ignore you.”

“Do you think there’s any scientific merit to the saying, what if one were simply blonde due to chemical dye, does that make the fun level less-“

Myka started to walk faster. “Ignoring you.”

“Fine, darling,” Helena ran forward and caught up. “I will stop, but did you also know, that apparently diamonds are a girl’s best friend?”

Myka snorted. “Sure. I’d give you a diamond and you’d ground it up to use as some kind of fuel in your latest experiment.”

“What an impractical idea, I’d most likely use the diamond as a light source of some sort, I would assume if you were to gift me with a diamond it would be a very big one and to use it as fuel I’d need a mine of them, very impractical,” Helena took a chance and leaned in to link her arm around Myka’s and she smiled to herself when Myka didn’t object. “Just as impractical as the idea of being best friends with an inanimate-“

Myka tilted her chin down and cautiously narrowed her eyes.

“What?” Helena asked the look catching her mid sentence.

“You are having far too much fun.”

“There’s a limit?”

Myka rolled her eyes. “Let’s just wrap this up before too much gets out and you find other ways to use my mortification for fodder.”

They turned a corner and finally found themselves in front of Helena’s lab. Myka stepped forward first and reached out to open the door, her fingers curled around the handle and she yanked it back but the door was barely open halfway before she slammed it shut abruptly and Helena hadn’t even had a chance to glimpse inside.

“I spoke too soon,” Myka whispered, her eyes wide as she stared at the closed door in shock.

“Myka?” Helena said in concern.

Myka remained frozen, her hand latched tight around the door handle. 

“Just don’t speak,” Myka said almost too quietly. “Never speak, Myka.”

“Myka?” 

When she got no further reply Helena reached forward to pull the door open but Myka pushed back, her hand not budging.

“Nope,” Myka whispered, her eyes still wide, the ability to blink apparently having left her senses. 

“Myka,” Helena said, both her hands curling around the handle and over Myka’s strong grip. 

“Too much fodder,” Myka muttered, her eyes unfocused as she shook her head back and forth slowly.

Instead of trying to yank the door open again, Helena lightly caressed Myka’s hand in her grip.

“Myka, I need you to let me open the door, whatever you saw cannot be that bad, it’s my lab, only you, me, and Claudia have ever been in it.”

An uncharacteristic squeak was the only reply she got from the other woman.

“We need the monitor, Myka, remember?” Helena reached up and cupped Myka’s cheek and tilted her face towards hers. She noticed her cheeks were flushed. “Remember?”

Myka finally blinked and murmured, “I don’t know why I let you talk me into these things.”

Myka’s grip softened on the door handle and Helena gently pulled the door open and prepared for the worst, her spine straightened, her shoulders pushed back, her gaze stern and ready but what she saw through the doorway only made her stance immediately loosen and sly smirk stretched onto her face.

“Oh, Myka,” she half-laughed as she watched the live memory in her lab. “I believe I barely had to do any talking…for that.”

The door slammed shut less than an inch from her face. Helena slowly turned her surprised gaze towards a more coherent Myka who had the upper half of her body pressed up against the door with a desperate look fluttering on her face, her eyelashes somehow each individually twitching in a strange manner.

“We are not watching that,” Myka stated clearly, the shocked glaze to her eyes disappearing.

“But this is one of those…rare possibilities I spoke of before.”

Myka blinked back at her silently, the simple action of her eyelids moving up and down were like tiny little angry crescent slashes. “No.”

“I think you should be seeing the upside of this.”

Myka jutted her chin out at her.

“No one else is around, it’s just us and we had previously been concerned earlier that the others could have seen us…in such a position so openly.”

“Once, Helena, it was once and never again.”

“Yes, yes I am aware of the rules and the designated areas,” she looked pointedly at the door. 

“You almost touched a fertility artifact that time!” Myka blurted out.

“Yes, which again, is why we do not do such activity in the stacks and…” she stalled at the look Myka was giving her. “Myka, really, don’t you think-“

“Helena Wells, I am not opening this door so you can watch a past…a past version of us…fornicating.”

“I am struck by the notion that we are missing out on a once in a lifetime chance.”

“I honestly can’t tell if you are approaching this like a science experiment or if you’re just…just…horny,” Myka blurted out.

“Don’t be so crass,” Helena playfully admonished. “Think of this as a rare opportunity.”

“To what,” Myka laughed acerbically. “Take pointers on your technique?”

A loud moan from the other side of the door chose that exact moment to make itself known.

Helena merely raised one eyebrow up. “Well, I hardly think that is needed, even sans toothbrush.”

Myka’s chin jutted out at an even sharper angle and she glared at her. “Then…you don’t mind if we just stay on this side of the door.”

Helena rolled her eyes and leaned in. “Darling, I really think you need to work through all this embarrassment you’ve-“

“-been bombarded with at an alarming rate with no warnings. Oh, god,” she paused to groan, her head lulling against the door, her eyes rolling up to the ceiling. “When will this day end?”

Helena glanced at her watch. “Actually, sooner than you would think but I do not think these events will be deterred by the change of the day.”

“No, probably not,” Myka grumbled. “And for the record,” she slowly pushed herself up off of the door. “I am not embarrassed by…” she raised her hands up at the door just as two more moans travelled through it and Myka sighed. “By us doing that…it’s just a very weird experience and I’m at my limit for this day. Plus, Pete would never let me hear the end of this.”

“Pete does not need to know the addendums to your rules and I understand, but we need that monitor and the quicker we attain it the-“

“Quicker this will hopefully end,” Myka nodded and stepped away from the door.

Helena exhaled and reached for the door handle and pulled gently. “We will purely be professionals about this.”

“I lied before,” Myka replied. “None of us are professionals, no one is qualified for-“ Her words were cut off as a particularly loud drawn out moan spilled through the cracked door and interrupted her.

Helena peeked through the door and found any playful reply vanishing from the tip of her tongue, her mouth suddenly dry as she watched the past version of herself drape herself over Past Myka’s body, her hips turning in as she pushed Myka against the work bench, her hand down Myka’s pants as she leaned up and captured Myka’s lips in a searing kiss as the other woman bucked against her.

“This is…” she cleared her throat. “Rather surreal.”

Myka snorted somewhere from above her head, she could feel the other woman against her back, she too was now gazing into the room despite her previous protests and Helena was feeling warmer than she should have from the proximity.

“It’s like the live version of a sex tape,” Myka murmured. 

“Sex tape…” Helena repeated slowly. “Yes.” She nodded, her bottom lip catching between her teeth as her past self pushed Myka up higher against the bench, her own legs spacing out as she leaned in closer to push herself against Myka’s thigh, her actions less smooth as she sought friction with complete abandonment. “That does put…an easier spin…on it.” Past Myka reached down and grabbed Helena’s ass, pulling her closer.

“Still not a normal spin,” Myka replied quietly, her voice noticeably huskier and Helena swallowed dryly.

The noises coming across the center of her lab picked up their pace, a familiar pattern of labored breathing and moaning echoing around them.

“The…the monitor,” Myka spoke up and it came across as a vague attempt at propriety. 

“Yes,” Helena licked her lips, they both still had yet to travel further past the doorway. “It…” she narrowed her eyes. “It will be over in a moment.” Past Myka’s left hand wildly sought purchase on the workbench as her orgasm ripped through her body, her mouth wide as she threw her head back, and her hand knocked something over on the bench but neither of them were paying attention as Past Helena tilted her head up and sought Myka’s lips again as she jerked against her, her own release about to follow as Myka’s other hand slipped down between them.

“Remember?” Helena voiced weakly.

“The smoke,” Myka said. “Any second.”

And Helena nodded slowly, her eyes catching the sudden smoke that was billowing up from the workbench that their past selves were none the wiser for, as Past Myka had knocked over a pile of paper onto a lit burner that they had both been too preoccupied to recall.

“You really need to clean up better,” Myka said.

“I have learned my lesson,” Helena half-laughed, the quick, short laughter momentarily distracting her from the growing sensations elsewhere in her body.

Past Helena arched her back, her fingers digging into Past Myka’s hips as she gasped with pleasure.

And for a second she found her present day self’s brain short-circuit at the idea of it all and she inhaled deeply, her breath uneven. Myka was noticeably quiet behind her and the silence was heavy and overpowering in ways she knew she should not be focusing on.

But the moment both past and present was broken about seven seconds later when Past Helena opened her eyes and the languorous look in them was quickly replaced by panic as she noticed the growing smoke billowing up from the small paper fire on the bench.

_“Do you…” Myka gasps, trying to even her breathing. “Smell smoke?”_

_Helena shrieks and pulls Myka away from the bench and reaches for a fire extinguisher from under the table._

“I didn’t originally recall your shriek being so high pitched,” Myka observed, her warm breath puffing against her neck and Helena grimaced, her thighs squirming against each other. “Or that you were capable of shrieking.”

“You were recovering at the time and I was panicking, there was already the fertility scare, I just knew you were most likely going to make a new rule altogether.”

“You were desperate not because of smoke inhalation but because you thought I wouldn’t ever let us do…that again in the Warehouse,” Myka chuckled. “Oh, Helena.”

Any reply Helena was attempting to expel was cut off when both Past Myka and Helena blinked out of existence but the smoke fire did not.

“Bloody hell,” Helena exclaimed in shock and leapt forward as she reached for the untouched fire extinguisher from under the table.

“Helena,” Myka said in a worried tone from behind her as she followed.

Helena reached up with her arm and covered her face as she coughed once before finally getting the extinguisher to work and directed its hose towards the growing smoking desk fire. After a brief tense moment the fire was out and the smoke was starting to dissipate.

Myka coughed and caught Helena’s surprised gaze with her own. “That was-“

“Surreal in an entirely different way,“ Helena finished.

Myka glanced around the lab with a worried expression that quickly evolved into a frown. “Well…there goes the sixty eight days without an incident record.”

Helena placed the extinguisher on the ground and stepped closer to inspect the mess but was satisfied to see the fire was indeed no longer a threat and nothing was entirely ruined that couldn’t be salvageable at another time, just a few tools and papers.

“Oh, I don’t know, does it count if it was the same incident from sixty eight days ago?”

Myka shook her head at her. “I actually…don’t-“ she stumbled. “Helena, that was not good, they’re becoming-“

“Tangible,” Helena said. 

“Occupation of space,” Myka muttered and then looked at her in concern. “This is going to get out of hand, I just know it.”

“It would be the correct assumption based on the evidence,” Helena replied, her own concern growing, any other previous distracted thoughts pushed out of the way. She crept over towards the other side of the lab where Claudia had a small bench of her own and noticed an old monitor sitting against the wall. Reaching out she pulled the small thin monitor closer and plugged the cord in and checked to make sure it worked, satisfied she unplugged it and turned towards Myka. “But I was correct in that it would be a learning experience, we have now, indeed, learned something quite vital.”

It was a tour de force as Myka’s emotions spilled themselves out across her face, first shock, then an eye roll and then a sigh of worry. “What does this mean exactly?”

“I do not know beyond guesses but we should move quickly before the power of the events grow further.”

“You mean before any more whiplash, because that is what this day is feeling like, constant whiplash,” Myka sighed once more and then stepped towards a corner where a chair sat piled with random items and grabbed a satchel off of it. Helena walked over and placed the monitor inside of it.

“We shall fix this,” Helena affirmed. “And we will salvage the weekend, but perhaps, we will not be immediately participating in Pete’s pizza party.” Her eyes swept over Myka’s lips, she found the low warming pulsing sensation deep inside of her that the smoke fire had chance away, slowly growing again. 

Myka smirked at her. “I feel like right now, any moment, you are going to tell me there is another fire to still be put out.”

Helena scoffed, “I would never be so overt with my words.”

Myka looped the band of the satchel over her shoulder. “Of course, but you should maybe make your eyes smolder less while we still have work to do.”

“I will save the smoldering for after the success of this disturbance hunt.”

“Your strength is admirable,” Myka laughed and turned to peek outside the door. “All clear,” she said.

“Game plan?”

“Be as quick as possible to avoid any other encounters that may be…growing and…” she caught her gaze. “Less smoldering.”

“For now,” Helena replied as she slipped through the small space between the door and Myka, her hand trailing across Myka’s lower back.

“Whiplash,” Myka muttered, her eyes rolling up at the ceiling again. “This is going to be the end of us all.”

Helena knew it was best to hold her laugh in.

 

It had been a valiant effort to follow their proposed plan but they had barely made it three stacks over before the past intruded on their mission.

They were rounding one particular stack when Helena caught sight of movement at the end of the aisle, two identical purple-blue things flopping on their own, she squinted her eyes and realized they bizarrely appeared to be a pair of cartoon like shoes that were walking all on their own.

“Do you see-” she started to ask Myka, who was distracted with fiddling the strap of the bag over her shoulder. And then a very loud and uncoordinated Pete stumbled into view after the shoes and paused at the top of the aisle.

“What-“ Myka began to reply but Helena found herself reaching up and pushing Myka back out of the aisle with a quick shove when she saw what followed the hunched over goofy smiling Pete, a very blonde and equally uncoordinated Myka.

“Helena,” Myka yelped as she tried to recover from the push, her hands reaching out for the support of the shelf around the corner. “What was-“

“Shhh,” Helena said, her eyes flickering towards Myka before nodding down the aisle. “We have company.”

“Yeah, okay, but why-“

_“Peeeettttttteeeee!”_

Myka’s eyes went wide and she leaned against the back of the shelf and crouched down low as she peeked around the corner of the aisle Helena was standing in and her face crumbled inwards when she saw Past Drunk Pete and Myka lingering at the end of the aisle.

_“Peeeettteee!” Myka whines. “What are you doing?”_

_“My shoes, Mykes, my shoes…they,” Pete hiccups. “They won’t come back, they don’t listen.”_

_Myka bends down and whistles. “Here shoes, here boy, come here…boy shoes.” She slaps her thigh. “Oh, Pete!” Myka swings her head back with a frown._

_“What?”_

_“I didn’t bring any treats for your shoes,” Myka groans._

_Pete blinks at her. “Aw, Mykes, now they’ll never come back.”_

Myka banged her head against the shelf as she turned away from the view. “What did I do to deserve this, any of this?” she whispered, and then she flashed her eyes at Helena. “Wait, why did you push me, why I’m I hiding?”

“I want to test something,” Helena nodded at her and then looked back down the aisle. “Just stay there a moment.”

Myka sighed. “Fine, make it quick and please do not remember anything you may hear or see the drunk past me do.”

“I will do my best,” Helena slinked up the aisle slowly, her eyes watching the two past selves.

_Pete laughs. “It’s okay, I’ll just get new shoes.”_

_“Right now?” Myka curls her fingers around her blonde locks and starts absently braiding the strands, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth as she focuses._

_Pete swings his head around back and forth. “Let’s…let’s go shopping here for new ones! I bet there’s tons of choices.” He swings his head back around and stops-_

And Helena could feel it; the exact moment she knew everything had changed for good, and it was as clichéd as a charge in the air, it was like static hummed over her skin for a moment, then continued on over her like a wave, the tiny hairs standing to attention on her arms and the back of her neck, the air crackling between the space that had once defined the past and the present, but now there was no such space. Any barrier that there had been was now gone.

Past Pete was staring right at her, a strange look of confusion and recognition.

“Oh…hey, H.G.,” Pete said. There was a moment where he blinked at her quietly, he hiccupped once more and then the confusion shifted and he was glaring at her.

“You’re…you’re not allowed to shop here…Wells,” he pointed at her angrily and as he did his body swayed on the spot, his equilibrium suddenly shot at the rapid unexpected emotion. “You hear me, so take…take your evil ways…to some other…” he paused as the words stumbled on his tongue. He jabbed the air again. “You don’t get shoes, okay, or ice, or…” He jabbed the air once more and it was his final undoing as he lost all his balance and toppled over and fell to the ground on his butt. “…or Mykas!” he finished and then burst out laughing at what he had done.

At Past Myka’s name being shouted she finally looked up from playing with her hair and first noticed Pete and smiled at him. “Pete, why are you on the ground? I’m not coming down there.”

Pete lied down on the ground, his focus on Helena shifting as he glanced up at the ceiling. “Mykes, when you look up from the ground…the lights…they’re like indoor stars…but bigger!”

And right then and there, any further doubts Helena may have had about the effect of the juggling balls went out the window because she could never have imagined a Pete from this exact point in their history together being so easily swayed from his ire at her.

Past Myka blinked at him in confusion and then her gaze slid along and she started a little on the spot at seeing Helena. She squinted her eyes and then widened them.

“Helena?”

“Y…Yes,” Helena replied, and down the aisle behind her she heard a quiet groan of displeasure. 

Past Myka looked over her shoulder curiously at the noise but then she focused back on Helena. She squinted again but this time she added the tilting of her head as she scrutinized her and despite the fog of the artifact, for a brief moment Helena caught the guarded look in this Myka’s gaze.

“What are you doing here? Are you even allowed-“ she stumbled closer to her. “Are you here to help us find Pete’s shoes?”

“I don’t want her…help,” Pete spat from the floor. “Oh, Mykes, look it’s like indoor lightning.”

All three of them looked up as the Warehouse energy crackled above them. It held Pete’s attention but Myka quickly focused back on Helena. She shuffled forward and reached out towards Helena and her hand made contact with Helena’s right boob and stayed there.

“Oh,” Helena uttered in surprise but didn’t back away.

“You’re not…you’re not a hologram,” she gasped but didn’t pull her hand away.

Helena cleared her throat. “Ah, no, darling.”

Past Myka flinched oddly, her eyes started to narrow and Helena recognized the guarded look encroaching again. 

“Is that allowed?” 

“It is quite all right, I promise you I’m not here to hurt you, Mrs. Frederic heard of…Pete’s shoes crisis and thought…maybe I could assist.”

Past Myka tilted her head towards the other angle as her eyes continued to examine her and Helena was torn by so many things, one, hoping the artifact of the juggling balls would do its part in distracting this Myka from the reality of the situation, two, wondering if present day Myka had combusted from her spot down the aisle, and three, her skin just beneath Past Myka’s hand was starting to warm up at an alarming rate and was causing other warring sensations.

“Oh,” Past Myka replied and matched Helena’s gaze. Helena swallowed dryly because maybe the juggling balls were effecting this Myka’s inhibitions more than was helpful because someone was not following the ‘no smoldering eyes’ rule. Past Myka smiled at her shyly.

“She’s not allowed to play with us,” Past Pete mumbled from the ground as he sat up with a lopsided glare.

Past Myka frowned and looked down at him. “But-“

“Myka! Pete!” Past Steve’s voice called in the distance.

Past Myka rolled her eyes. “Ugh, Mr. Poopy Pants.”

Helena stifled her laughter at this Myka’s expression.

“Yeah, we have a Mr. Poopy Pants now, so you should go.” Past Pete stood up and grabbed Myka’s elbow but she didn’t move. “No touching,” he decreed as he reached over and pulled Myka’s hand off of her chest and Myka pouted. “But-“

“Where are you guys?” Past Steve’s voice called again, and sounded alarmingly closer.

“You should go,” Helena said. “I’ll…” she stumbled. “I’ll see you later…if you want. If it’s allowed again.”

Past Myka nodded. “Okay…maybe.” She pulled at her hair and a faint blush rose to her cheeks. “Oh, do you like my hair?”

Helena smiled at her. “Yes, I do. You look very nice.”

“Ugh, gross,” Past Pete spat. “Let’s go.” He pulled a reluctant Myka around the corner and she gave a little wave. “Bye!”

“Bye,” Helena called back. She waited and listened to see if their footsteps would retreat back or vanish but they continued to sound further and further away.

Quickly, she wandered back down the aisle and sighed in relief when she saw present day Myka still in the same spot she had left her.

“Am I a puddle?” Myka asked with her eyes closed. “Have I melted down into a humiliated puddle of feelings?”

“No,” Helena laughed. “And I am quite happy that is not the case.”

“Happy?” Myka opened her eyes and then narrowed them.

“Beyond the concern of the fact that they can now interact with us and aren’t vanishing, the experience wasn’t that bad.”

“Drunk me just copped a feel on you.”

Helena shrugged. “I can’t help the way you, any version of you, chooses to investigate things.”

Myka stood up and straightened the bag over her shoulder. “I guess…if you had to test the advancement of all of this…that was the lesser of the evils.”

“Exactly, that Pete didn’t even remark on my evil mustache twirling habits.”

“Helena,” Myka said quietly, her own discomfort fading with a concerned look.

Helena reached out and readjusted the strap on her shoulder. “It is all right. Truly, as you said, it was the lesser of evils. And it was the past. Is, the past,” she patted the strap and smoothed it out along Myka’s back. “And again, you were-“

“If you say adorable-“ Myka warned.

“Precious.”

“That’s just a fancy way of-“

Helena thought she saw movement down the aisle again and quickly joined Myka fully around the corner and the cover of the side of the shelf. She peeked back around but didn’t see anyone.

“I guess we have other things we should be focusing on,” Myka said.

“Yes, any idea on how to get to the office without being seen by any of our past selves. I doubt other interactions will go as well as that one.”

“There wouldn’t happen to be an Invisible Man artifact in your aisle we could go grab?”

Helena frowned. “No.”

Light crackled up above their heads.

“Do you hear that?” Myka asked and turned around to face a different direction. “It…sounds like someone running and…a weird sort of snorting.”

Helena paused to listen. “It also sounds like wings fluttering-“ her words were cut off as a large snorting Swan came out of nowhere and ran right by them, its wings out and flapping as it angrily waddled.

“What the-“ Myka started only to be cut off as a Pete dressed in a beige almost see-through leotard ran right by them after the Swan.

“You guys didn’t see anything!” He called out to them, a fearful expression on his face before he disappeared around the corner after the Swan.

Helena and Myka were momentarily stunned into silence.

Myka coughed. “Well, maybe all the interactions will be so awkwardly uncomfortable it will be a benefit and our past selves won’t even want to acknowledge us, just like-“ She nodded after the direction Past Pete had gone.

“What was he wearing?” Helena asked in shock. 

“He wasn’t wearing a hat but I’m pretty sure I saw some fruit,” Myka gulped.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve wasn’t feeling it.

The purple goo that he hadn’t been able to fully wipe off of himself was starting to harden and stick to his skin.

The skin under his nails was dyed purple, a treacherous plum.

He scratched under his chin and felt texture that was not familiar to his touch; he pulled his hand back and glared at the lilac dust that was sinking into the delicate lines of his fingerprints. He squinted and affirmed it was no doubt sinking further and further into his pores.

And so he waited, he remained quiet, oh, so patiently quiet for the jokes to come.

‘When did Grimace start working at the Warehouse?’

‘Is it time to sing the Barney song, Steve?’

But they never came.

Not even a classic like, ‘You got a little…something on you.’

Instead, the three of them were wordlessly hurrying along the stacks still focused on heading to the gooery.

He took a chance and glanced at Pete out of the corner of his eye but the man wasn’t even looking at him, he appeared focused on their goal, his eyes darting back and forth on the look out for any more strange incidents.

Maybe, Pete did have good survival instincts.

He did have to hand it to the guy.

Claudia moved in front of him with a focused pace, she had barely attempted to make light of his situation, she had helped him clean up as best as they could but when the shock had worn off she was concerned.

Steve was too, not just about the rash he could feel starting under a particular tough glob of goo on the back of his neck and he wasn’t even sure how that had been able to get there, he was worried by what this all meant.

Worried and annoyed.

So very annoyed.

First, there was the preview into his talks with Trailer, then the Carmen Miranda hat incident that he had wished would have forever been a secret and he was still bitter about that for a lot of reasons, because he had thought those grapes were a snack left out and what a dumb thought that was looking back, but it had barely been a month into the job. Steve didn’t sing. He already communicated quite clearly through the act of a level voice and pointed stares. But there he had been, all to see, singing, jovially. Then there was the goo blanket he was currently sporting and he was doing his best to be as cool as possible with it all, maybe not cool but in a minute or two, possibly, nonchalant.

He’d get there.

There was still work to be done.

He felt a tickle under his nose and he sneezed. He did his best to recover and pulled his arm up to cover himself as he did it twice more and was dismayed to see purple goo that he had just expelled from his nose on his sleeve.

He was a step back from nonchalant.

“You okay there, Steve?” Pete asked tentatively.

Steve chose to answer in the refined art of a silent glare that wasn’t necessarily directed at Pete but just the general space around him and what that space was doing.

“Yeah, I get it,” Pete nodded after a beat. 

“Hurry it up, we’re almost-“ Claudia stopped talking and spun on her heel to face them, her hands up in the air. “Actually, just wait,” she whispered.

Steve and Pete met her at the end of the aisle.

“What is it?” Steve asked quietly.

Claudia jerked her head to the right. “Past Abigail incoming.”

“Is she going to be taking a neutralizer shower as well? Because I’d like to step back further if that’s all right, like two aisles back.”

Claudia frowned at him. “Woe is you.” She rolled her eyes, and then stepped up on the tips of her toes to cautiously peek through the shelves into the next aisle. “She seems to be just hanging out over there but with no idea…” she turned back to him and scrunched her face up. “Well, I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen anymore.”

Pete stepped closer to the shelf and stretched his neck out. “She’s just looking around.”

“Yeah, well we need to walk by that aisle, so she needs to get a move on,” Claudia motioned her hands in a shooing manner. “Who knows how these things are advancing and for the good of all I think we should limit interaction.”

Steve nodded. “I agree on the caution. Caution is good. I’m with you on the caution.”

“The purple-do you are sporting says as much,” Pete stated matter of fact.

Steve sighed but didn’t expand on it, knowing it was the truth.

Pete ducked down suddenly. “She’s coming over closer to this side, and I don’t know if this is going to sound paranoid or not but she kind of squinted over here like she may have seen me.”

“Pete?” Past Abigail’s voice called out.

“Damn it,” Pete muttered. “Why couldn’t it have been paranoia? Stupid brain and stupidly functioning correctly.”

“Come on!” Claudia urged, her voice caught between a whisper and a strangled yell. “We need to move quickly.” She scampered ahead and Steve followed after her, Pete trailing his heels as they all tumbled around another stack and crouched down.

“Be quiet,” Claudia whispered as they all peeked through the shelf to see a confused Abigail standing on the spot they had just been in and looking around.

Past Abigail shrugged and then sighed. “Guess you are just imagining things.”

Claudia shot Steve a worried glance as Abigail continued to talk to herself.

“I can’t be that lost in here, it’s barely been twenty minutes.”

Steve felt his nose tickle again and he panicked at the feeling. 

“I don’t think it was such a good idea to take Artie up on the chance for me to acquaint myself down here on my own with my free time.” Abigail inhaled and exhaled. “It’s going to be fine.”

The tickle grew.

Claudia’s eyes widened as his nose twitched and she reached over and placed her finger under his nose and applied pressure, her timed blinks warning him not to do it. He blinked back at her the internal struggle and her eyes silently glistened with a forewarning.

The sound of paper or plastic of some sort crinkling drew their attention, and the three of them chanced a peek, their heads all turning with Claudia still somehow keeping her finger in place under his nose.

Steve watched as a dejected Abigail opened a granola bar she had pulled from the pocket of her jeans.

“At least I brought a snack,” she shrugged and bit into the bar as she walked away in the other direction. “I’m pretty sure I need to go…” her voice trailed off as she rounded the corner.

“Man, she is so smart, it took me months to figure out to bring snacks down here,” Pete said and Claudia reached over and slapped her free hand over his mouth.

Pete’s eyes widened in surprise but he didn’t move and so the three of them stood and waited a moment, Claudia’s finger under Steve’s nose chasing away his sneeze and her other hand clamped over Pete’s mouth as they strained their ears to make sure they weren’t going to have anymore past company.

Satisfied, Claudia nodded and pulled her hands away. “That was close.”

“They’ve grown,” Steve said. “They’re fully taking up space and-“

“They can see and hear us,” Claudia gulped. “H.G. was right to worry.”

Pete stretched his body out from their cramped position and nodded his head seriously as he began to pace the aisle. “Yup, embarrassment to…to…” he stumbled. “Oh, god,” his eyes went wide. “What if we run into past versions of ourselves?” He ran his hand over his chin. “Yup, embarrassment to probably early baby Warehouse me trying to murder what he thinks is his evil double.”

“Whoa,” Claudia raised her hands up. “Way to jump to the extreme.”

Steve reached up and scratched the back of his neck and was relieved when he felt the patch of crusty goo there start to crumble off. 

“Really?” Pete looked at her in disbelief. “What would your first thought be if you saw a copy of yourself?”

“Awesome mirror dance off opportunity?” Claudia blinked and shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, yeah, evil double, you’re right.” She stepped up beside Steve and wiped the back of his neck off with her sleeve. “We’ve been programmed by too much tv.”

Pete nodded.

“Thanks,” Steve muttered to Claudia as she shook her sleeve off.

She smiled at him. “Almost back to spec.”

He rolled his eyes at her.

“Let’s keep up the pace before any evil dance offs,” Claudia instructed and then yawned.

“Getting tired?” he asked.

She waved him off. “It’s all right.”

 

“Oh, no!” Claudia yelped as they entered the gooery, her hand nervously covering her eyes and then she peeked between her fingers. “Oh…maybe…okay,” she followed up as she warily tiptoed further into the room that was acting surprisingly normal.

Nothing was on fire.

Nothing was screeching.

“Oh!” Claudia leaped forward and disappeared around one of the large mechanical wheels that was running smoothly.

“I figured out why the alarm stopped,” she called out.

“What about why the alarm went off?” Pete asked as they both followed Claudia’s voice.

They turned the corner and Claudia frowned at them sheepishly.

“That…that I’m drawing a blank on.”

“Why’d the alarm stop then?” Steve asked.

“I don’t think it had a choice,” Claudia answered as she stepped back and revealed a charred hole in the panel she was looking at. Steve followed the black scorching mark from the burnt out panel to the wire that was attached to one of the warning lights on a separate pole in the floor and the alarm light that usually sat on top of it was completely blown apart.

It was reflex as Steve ducked down as crackling energy passed over them and he glared at the ceiling as it went by. 

“Don’t have to guess what did that,” he said.

Claudia nodded.

“Huh,” Pete muttered. “Wonder why it was blaring in the first place? I know this is your area of expertise, Claud, but everything seems to be working,” Pete continued as he walked around the gooery main fixture and taped the panel of the meter.

“It could have been a fluke,” Claudia said. “I mean with all this energy frizzing about, maybe the gooery was just feeling a bit hot and then the alarm was the directed source of that flux and then it mostly just departed.”

She walked over towards Pete to peek at the meter but a quick, short spark of light moved from the machine towards Claudia and she jumped on the spot.

“Ow!” she yelled. “I got shocked again. Totally not mostly departed.”

“You okay?” Steve asked hurriedly.

She nodded slowly. “Yeah…”

Pete narrowed his eyes at the space between Claudia and the machine and he tentatively reached out but nothing happened to him.

Before Steve could warn against it, Claudia reached out again and another shock made her jump, her eyes large round saucers as she looked at the machine with an offended glare and then tilted her head up at the ceiling. “Hey!” she yelled.

“Let’s get you back a few steps,” Pete said.

Her shoulders slumped as she nodded and stepped back from the machine.

“Okay, why do you keep getting shocked?” Steve voiced. “You got shocked in Artie’s bedroom and-“

“I know, Jinksy,” Claudia mumbled, her affronted expression growing as she glanced around the room. “Must be a Warehouse connection thingy.” The insulted turn of her frown switched its corners to a twitching line of concern.

“What is it?” Steve asked.

“I don’t know entirely, I mean the gooery is fine, but…” she trailed off, her eyes narrowing from one corner of the room to the other. “But when I got shocked, it was almost like I could feel the Warehouse…panicking.”

“Panicking?” Steve repeated. “The Warehouse is currently having a freaking meltdown?”

Claudia shrugged at him.

“I wouldn’t say meltdown,” Pete added and Steve turned to look at him in shock. Pete raised his hands up. “Hey, I’m just saying maybe let’s not exaggerate the symptom in order to understand, I’ve seen the Warehouse when it was melting down, this isn’t it. We go with ‘panicking’, it’s a rung lower than meltdown.”

Steve wordlessly blinked at him.

“Pete’s right,” Claudia said. “The Warehouse isn’t in trouble-“

“Yet,” Steve interjected.

“Yet, being the important part, Steve,” Pete said. 

Steve sighed as Pete and Claudia shared a look. “Fine, I guess we will all remain relaxed about the panicking.”

Claudia stared up at the sparking bursts of energy. “I wouldn’t say total relaxation, the Warehouse is definitely antsy about something.”

“Not helping,” Steve replied.

Pete picked up one of the portable pack gears of neutralizer and swung it up onto his back and slipped his arms through the straps of the backpack like contraption. “Might be a good idea to load up on this stuff, and now that we know things are okay here, we should go regroup with the others, maybe H.G. and Myka have caught on to something and have a lead.”

“Any suggestion on how to avoid any further run ins with our past selves?” Steve asked as he picked up a pack as well and swung it onto his back.

“Be really, really, really stealthy,” Pete replied as he fiddled with the dial on the hose that was attached to his pack and jerked away when a little bit of purple goo spurted out of the end and shot near Steve’s face. “Sorry.”

“Be stealthier,” Steve deadpanned.

 

Steve wondered if it was imperative that the three of them moved around the stacks towards their destination in such a cartoon fashion. Did the hunched back, stretched out ostrich neck with bulging eyes and tiptoeing feet really make their execution of being on the lookout any better, he didn’t think so.

“Ow,” he muttered after Claudia bopped him on the head for the second time.

“Keep your head down,” she hissed back.

Quietly grumbling Steve assumed the position of his fellow agents again and refrained from standing up right and de-stretching his neck and instead focused on the gaps in the shelves around them and then Pete’s back.

It was painful both on a physical and emotional level.

His grumbling was short-lived when he realized that Claudia’s footsteps behind him were starting to lag, the rhythm of their three-person train falling out of place.

Steve took his chance, he stopped and straightened his spine out and turned around. No bop came. Claudia leaned against a shelf a few feet back and smiled weakly at him.

“Pete,” he said softly.

“Yeah,” Pete grunted back.

“Hold up.”

Pete stopped and spun around to join them.

“What’s the matter, Claudia?” Steve asked.

Claudia huffed out a low tumbling breath. “Just felt really tired all of a sudden.” Her smile grew in a bashful manner. “Sorry, guys, I think, I need a pause button for a moment.”

“Don’t be sorry, Claudia,” Pete jumped in, his brow creasing in concern. 

“You sure you just feel tired, nothing else is wrong?” Steve asked as he stepped forward and brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

Claudia nodded. “Just kind of winded you know, not sick or anything, just sleepy.”

“That would be the smelling salts,” Myka’s voice popped in from out of nowhere and Pete and Steve turned around in surprise to meet Myka and Helena standing behind him.

“Jeez!” Pete blurted out as he grabbed his chest. “Don’t sneak up on people like that. There’s past versions of everyone wandering around with all their senses intact!”

Myka shrugged, the strap of the bag she was holding started to slip off her shoulder and Helena quickly reached out to fix it.

“You have seen the change in the phenomenon then too?” Helena asked.

Pete nodded. “Yes and it’s not good. And wait…how do we know you’re the real present day Myka and Helena?”

Everyone waited silently and blinked back at Pete. Pete rubbed his hand down his face. “Right, right, you aren’t freaking out, dumb question. I’m on edge people!”

“We all are,” Steve muttered and awkwardly gave Pete a comforting pat on his shoulder.

“Thanks, dad,” Pete cried out as he turned in towards him and Steve immediately let go and stepped back.

“And the moment is gone,” Steve said. 

Pete shrugged and recovered.

“Claudia did see us coming,” Myka said.

Steve and Pete stepped back so they could form a half circle.

“Really?” Steve directed at Claudia.

Claudia shrugged. “Too…much energy to say.”

“She’s feeling this way because of the smelling salts?” Steve asked Myka.

“I believe so, I thought it may have occurred earlier and when it didn’t I didn’t think it would be a concern, but it must have been delayed, you don’t get that much pep without the-“

“Downside,” Steve supplied.

Myka nodded. “Yes, I mean at least I think…” she trailed off as her and Helena shared a look that Steve could not decipher and the tiny goo covered hairs on the back his neck tried in vain to rise. 

Myka caught their worried looks and smiled. “It’s the smelling salts, she will be okay. She just needs to rest.”

Helena and Myka shared the same look again and Steve was pretty sure the goo was not hindering the hairs on the back of his neck from standing to attention anymore. 

“What-“ he began, only to be interrupted by Pete and he figured he’d make sure to pull Myka aside in a moment to pondered his concern further.

“First things first then, we need to take care of our Claudia,” Pete said.

“What? No, you guys need to fix this, we need to-“ Claudia broke off as she yawned.

“We’re no good if we aren’t at the top of our game,” Pete continued. “And we need you one hundred percent too Claud, you are a part of the team. Plus I could really use a bathroom break and some refueling of food.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Steve asked.

“We head to the Pete Cave, it’s close by,” Pete decreed. “Claudia can catch a quick nap, we refresh and put our heads together because I think we’re going to need a plan to get all the way from here to the office without running into trouble.”

“I find myself agreeing with Pete,” Helena said, her nose slightly upturned, a subtle hint at her own surprise at the concept or entirely for show, sometimes Steve couldn’t always tell and he wondered if Helena even knew which it was anymore. “Myka and I were detoured several times in our path in avoiding a few encounters and we ended up here with you.”

“Who’d you, or what time period of people did you run into?” Pete asked.

Helena turned towards Myka and arched one fine eyebrow before answering. “It was…interesting.”

“Okay, but you didn’t really answer the question,” Pete replied.

“She said it was interesting, Pete,” Myka said, her jaw clenching.

Pete stared at her for a beat and then his lips stretched into a wide smile and he wagged his finger at her. “Oh, what did you guys see? Was Myka-“

“Pete,” Helena interrupted. “Do you happen to have any recollection of Myka and I running into you during…Swan Lake?”

“Swan Lake?” Pete focused on her.

Helena and Myka remained quiet.

“Swan Lake?” Pete repeated. “Is that like code for-“

“You,” Myka blurted out. “You and a swan.”

All the color drained from Pete’s face. “Okay, I take your word that it was interesting, just interesting.”

“Good,” Helena supplied.

Pete rubbed his chin anxiously.

“You’re jumpy all of a sudden,” Steve observed. “What’s a swan to you?”

Pete was silent as he shook his head and started humming as he avoided eye contact with him.

“In all seriousness,” Helena began. “Do you Pete, have any new memory of-“

“Nope,” Pete said. “Nope and just stop, please.”

“Pete, I’ve seen you in worse, the dressy leotard wasn’t that-“

Pete interrupted Myka, “What? I don’t care about that, it was the Swan, it got the best of me. It was evil and diabolical. Took forever to get it back to the original state.”

Steve raised his eyebrows up. “Do we want clarification or not?”

Claudia shrugged at him.

No one followed up until Helena nodded thoughtfully and tilted her face towards Myka. “Then they are separate consciousness, identity and entities all on their own, there is no sharing of-“

“Guys, this is great and all, getting to the heart of the matter, swans and identity, what have you but do you mind….” Claudia paused to yawn again. “If we start making our way to the Pete Cave. I feel like I could crash right here.”

“Of course,” Myka replied. “We should let you get some rest.”

Claudia nodded and closed her eyes. “That be great. You guys are the best.”

“Need me to carry you?” Pete asked her as they started to shuffle forward and Claudia begrudgingly forced her eyes halfway to being open again.

“Part of me wants to say yes, but the other part of me who values dignity and is annoying, is winning out right now on saying no, but thanks and I’ll let you know.”

“Is that the same part of you that calls fainting, aggressively falling asleep on the spot?” Steve leaned in to ask her.

Claudia playfully half-attempted to swat the air by him.

“Watch it, Jinksy,” she murmured and then smiled. “Although I think that is a real thing separate from fainting that I may do soon.”

“Try to aggressively keep it together ‘till we get to the Cave,” he replied.

“You got it,” she answered. “Be aggressive, be, be aggressive.”

“Guys, if we weren’t sure before, I can tell you now, Claudia needs a nap a-s-a-p, she’s turning into a cheerleader.”

Claudia sleepily pointed her finger at him. “You don’t even want to know what I could do with a pom pom, Mister.”

 

“I know everyone keeps asking about the plan, or plans and then nothing really happens except we keep moving but any…” Steve caught himself for a moment and then sighed as he continued, “Plan on what to do if we encounter any past flare ups even in the Pete Cave?”

The five of them moved swiftly around the stacks, Claudia in the middle of them as they all kept their eyes shifting, constantly on the look out for movement.

“I was mostly just hoping the energy is always so chill in the Pete Cave that nothing would feel the urge,” Pete answered.

“Of course,” Steve half-laughed. 

“We will take shifts,” Helena spoke up. “Cover the exits and if anyone does pop up we subdue them immediately and tie them up.”

“This has the potential to get kinky doesn’t it,” Pete said.

“You have no idea,” Myka muttered.

“What was that?” Steve asked her and Myka immediately turned away from him and started rubbing the back of her neck. “So subdue?” he focused back towards a suspiciously smirking Helena. “You mean-“

“Knock out,” Helena answered. “We don’t have time to explain the situation.”

“Doesn’t it feel like maybe that’s a little uncaring towards…even a version of yourself?”

Helena zeroed in on him, her dark gaze narrowing but the glint in her eyes was of a curious nature. “Who do you feel would be the real you when presented with several past occurring versions of yourself? Are you that person anymore, would you feel uncomfortable simply based on a perception of–“

“Helena,” Myka interrupted. “You’re going to scramble everyone’s heads.”

Helena clicked her tongue. “Right, of course, my point, Steve, is that this is an unnatural occurrence, it has the power to threaten the balance of time itself and selfhood, we must stop the advancement of the others, even if it is a version of yourself, from further interaction and we will do that…humanely as possible.”

“I get it,” Steve answered. “But we’re all agreeing on how weird this is, right.”

Three heads nodded and one sleepily shrugged as they picked up the pace.

“Almost there,” Pete said as he jumped ahead around a corner.

“Pete!” Abigail’s voice called out from ahead of them and Steve jolted to a full stop and reached out for both Myka and Claudia beside him to stop and Myka thankfully grabbed Helena and the four of them crouched down around the corner quietly.

“Uh, hi, Abigail,” Pete replied, his nervous voice floating over to them.

“I thought you weren’t back from your mission yet,” Abigail continued. “You know I thought I actually saw you earlier.”

“Just got back now,” Pete answered hurriedly.

“That’s nice,” Abigail said. “I was starting to feel a bit lost down here, probably shouldn’t have gone exploring my first time on my own-“

“But you brought snacks,” Pete blurted out.

“Pardon?” Abigail asked, her tone shifting to a confused one.

“Uh, I mean, I actually need to check out a long list of artifacts that Artie asked me to check out right away, bit of an emergency actually, an emergency check, very boring stuff, but urgent, and it’s going to take me a long time, but must remain an individual task due to…certain interactions of artifacts, so I could give you directions back to the office.”

“Oh…well, okay, that would be great, I appreciate it.”

“First you need to turn down the…”

“Think she’s going to buy it and not suggest waiting for him,” Claudia whispered in Steve’s ear, her voice pitching up and down in a slurring manner.

“I hope so, Abigail is super nice, she’ll probably think of it as respecting his space,” he whispered back. “Even if she thinks he’s acting odd she won’t call him on it until later.”

“Let’s all hope,” Myka added quietly.

“It’s okay, guys,” Pete said abruptly as he came back around the corner. “She bought it, she’s left.”

The four of them stood up.

“Is it just me, but according to those instructions you gave her, it sounds as though you directed her further into the center of the Warehouse and away from the office,” Helena said.

Pete nervously rolled his shoulders. “I know! But what was I supposed to do, if we don’t stop this soon, she could get out of the Warehouse, wouldn’t it be best to limit the possibility of our doubles or whatever getting out and interacting in the world.”

“That is true,” Helena replied.

“I was trying to be humane as possible, at least I didn’t send her to the aisle with the quicksand.”

“Why would that have been an option?” Steve asked in surprise.

Pete scratched his head. “I don’t know actually. Tv, man, Claudia was right.”

“Come on,” Myka instructed as she wrapped Claudia’s arm around her shoulder and pulled her along, the young girl’s eyes dropping even more. “We are almost there.”

Two minutes in, with two more minutes to go to their destination, Steve picked up on a noise somewhere behind the cross section of stacks they had just come from.

“Does anyone else hear that?”

Pete tilted his head to the side. “Yes, it sounds like…” his eyes bugged out. “Dodgeballs,” he exclaimed, every feature on his face breaking out and contorting in fear.

“What?”

“Oh, god,” Myka moaned. “Everyone run unless you want to be taken out by a flurry of multiplying dodegballs.”

They ran for it, even Claudia woke up long enough to perform a quick sprint.

Just a few feet from the sanctuary of Pete’s Cave, Steve heard the whistle in the air but it was too late, the big rubber ball hit him in the head before he even had a chance and down he went to ground.

And as he fell, Steve realized it was pointless trying to pretend there could be limits in the Warehouse, or that things could be compartmentalized in it, it was the zen thing to do. 

He was no longer going to be surprised about things or people when in the building.

Because Steve was very much a cog in the machine that was Warehouse and its gang.

He was in deep.

The next rubber ball that was coming towards his face told him as much.


	7. Chapter 7

Sometimes, home to Pete was the simple notion of everyone sitting around the breakfast table, laughing and talking, and even some sleepily grumbling over their coffee, tea or briefly an all-bran cereal breakfast try.

Occasionally, home in particular to Pete was his bed at the B & B with his extra comfy sheets.

And of course, sometimes, home to Pete was an unexpected smile or laugh from his mom.

But the truth was, that Pete had many definitions for what home was to him, it wasn’t so simple as sweet, or where the heart was, because his life was in a constant state of, well, states of moving and changing, and he’d long ago learned to go with the flow, to have many moments and places filed away that were more than just a needle point sign over a kitchen sink kind of label.

Home…was whatever he could get with his makeshift family.

He wasn’t greedy.

And the Pete Cave had once been his sole sanctuary but now it served a bigger purpose, it was known as the spot that any one of them could come and relax and take some time off, and maybe be talked into a movie marathon about Aliens. 

Repeatedly. 

Surprisingly, repeatedly.

Specifically, if tears over the cat Jonesy were kept to oneself.

Pete knocked his head gently back against the door of the entrance to the Pete Cave, his backside sunken down in a bulky beanbag chair as he quietly stood, or more to the point, sat watch over his Warehouse family. He shifted up a bit against the door, his eyes slowly moving around each corner of the space, keeping an eye out for any pop ups of their past selves but for the past two hours it had remained quiet. Claudia lay sprawled out fast asleep on the largest couch and Steve sat on the ground in front of her, his back resting against the couch as he slept. Pete tracked his gaze across the room and spotted Helena and Myka curled up together on the slightly shorter couch but they were making it work somehow, it was actually kind of awe-inspiring, but he was disappointed that it wasn’t giving him insight into who was the bigger spoon.

The Pete Cave, sometimes, felt the most like home, especially at times like this, even given the circumstances, because slowly, it had become more than just his space, it was theirs in a way that the aisles and the office of the Warehouse wasn’t. He knew how space was important to some people; he knew certain hot spots he should never venture to at particular times, nooks of the library, the back porch of the B & B, and of course someone’s lab, but Pete liked that his space could provide for others. He hadn’t been entirely joking when he’d hoped it wouldn’t be such a hot spot for the past influx, because what his hideout did provide was a place to hang out, to not worry, to not be constantly moving or be in fear of an accidental artifact mishap, and he was personally surprised by the rate Myka, Helena and even Steve had adapted to relaxing in it over the past year. 

Pete liked to think it was a vibe he put out all the time.

He could be the calm in the storm. 

His space could do that at least.

He knew as a person that wasn’t always the case, not one hundred percent, as sometimes the joke, no matter how annoying, just needed to get out there and it tended to break the façade.

Only some of the time.

But it was a skill to be in the middle of chaos and still feel, that sense, that feeling of home.

The Pete Cave made that happen even when he couldn’t be depended too.

Because, sometimes, home was being stuck together in the middle of the night in your hideout Cave because past versions of yourselves were popping up and becoming sentient…or sentienter.

He tracked his eyes back across the room and tilted his head back again, the slight tap of his head keeping his own eyes open.

The dodgeballs had stopped pounding against the door over an hour ago. He reached up and rubbed the small growing bump on his forehead that he had acquired when he’d looped back around to pick a fallen Steve up and had carried him to safety. Luckily, neither of them had been knocked unconscious just a little banged up and in Steve’s case, a slightly bruised ego. Pete had poked his head out when the noise had stopped and had heard a past version of himself and Myka exclaiming how they were confused why the dodgeballs had sought other unknown targets and figured they had stopped the artifact and had yet to run into anything else. He wished himself the best in hoping maybe they’d just somehow vanish or continue to be none the wiser.

It was such an odd thing to wish or wished for another version of yourself.

But odd was a now a way of life.

He felt his eyelids start to droop and he tilted his head back again and started to hum quietly.

 

“Pete, wake up,” a familiar voice urged somewhere above him.

“What?” he jerked awake and locked gazes with a concerned Myka. “Myka?” He was keenly aware that his position had changed, as he was flat on his back in the beanbag chair. “I fell asleep,” he murmured in shock. “But?” He leaned back but his head never hit the door. “Where?” Finally, he jumped up and it all sunk in just how far he had moved.

“Shhh,” Myka said, her gaze shifting towards a still sleeping Steve.

“What’s going on?” Pete whispered, his eyes scanning the few feet between him and the door. “Mykes, I swear, I was right against the door, I was-“

“Claudia,” Myka said. “She left, I think she’s been following Artie’s steps in having a few artifact tricks up her sleeves at all times. She must have moved you somehow.”

“Why would she?”

Myka shrugged. “I don’t know but we should go after her, she can’t have gone that far.”

“Where’s H.G.?” he asked.

“She’s in the back,” Myka tilted her chin past the chalkboard. “She thinks she may have left some gadgets here that may be helpful. She’s going to keep an eye on Steve.”

“He has kind of been through the ringer, guy deserves some extra rest I suppose.”

Myka nodded. 

“Should we really split up?” Pete asked.

Myka stepped forward and slowly opened the door and peeked her head out. “I kind of think the less of us out there, the better chances at causing any unfortunate run ins.”

“That’s true.”

“We won’t go far, but we can’t just leave Claudia out there.”

“Okay, so like a ten minute look around and if nothing, we come back here and grab the others and I don’t know…finally think of another plan on top of the other chaos that will be implied if we don’t find Claudia.”

Myka turned back at him and half-frowned. “Pretty much.”

 

 

A chorus of “Ow!”, “Stop that!”, “I’m serious!”, “What is your deal?”, and one particularly drawn out growl quickly led their way to finding Claudia not that far from the Pete Cave. 

The young techie was miming strangling the computer screen of one of the info stations. She pulled back suddenly and yelped. “Ow! Stop shocking me!”

“Not exactly following the stealthy part of a good sneak away,” Pete said.

Claudia jumped in surprise and swiveled around to meet them, her shoulders dropping down a peg or two.

“I wasn’t…” she rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t meant to be…” she sighed. “I just…” she mumbled quietly but didn’t continue.

“What’s wrong?” Myka asked gently.

Claudia sighed again and stared at the computer screen with a defeated glance.

“Yeah, Claud, come on, what’s going on? Don’t think I don’t want to focus on how you tricked me and got away, but I know now is not-“

“Dude, you totally fell asleep on your own.”

Pete opened his mouth and gaped. “What!” He rubbed his jaw. “Well, that is a blow to my ego.”

Claudia tilted her chin down and mumbled, “I may have also used something to move you though without you being able to notice.”

“Ah-ha!” he pointed at her.

“Guys,” Myka interrupted. “Focus.”

“Right,” Pete nodded.

Claudia looked down at her feet and then raised her head up. “I woke up and it…everything just started not to feel right and…” her hand reached up and caressed her collar bone, her fingers pulling at her shirt collar. “I needed air, I needed space,” her voice started to get higher, her words spilling out faster, tumbling after the other too closely. “I started to panic, and I needed to know, I needed to find out why the hell the Warehouse is doing this, because I know, I know it’s somehow, it’s my-“

“Claudia,” Myka reached out and grabbed her shoulders. “Breathe, I need you to take a deep breath, okay, in and out.”

Claudia locked her gaze and started to breathe in and out evenly.

“That’s good,” Myka said. 

It took the young woman another half of a minute before it looked like her eyes weren’t going to bulge out of her head.

“Thanks,” Claudia murmured at Myka.

Myka patted her shoulder and stepped back, giving her some more space. “You’re having panic attacks, Claudia.”

Claudia snorted and followed it up with an embarrassed eye roll. “Duh.”

“You all right?” Pete asked.

Claudia nodded at him. “Yeah, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left without telling you.”

“What are you doing out here, or at least trying to?” he continued.

“I’m trying to fix the Warehouse.”

“Kind of the plan we had already, as a group,” he said tentatively.

Neither he nor Myka said anything as they watched Claudia struggle for a moment to find her words, her hands clenching and unclenching.

“It’s my responsibility,” she blurted out, her eyes blinking wide as they threatened to bulge again.

“Okay, okay, you got that out, now breathe again, you’re getting stressed,” he said.

Claudia laughed. “Me being stressed isn’t new.”

Pete shared a concerned gaze with Myka.

“What have you been stressed about?” Myka asked.

Claudia shrugged. “Is everything an acceptable answer?”

“Claud, if you’ve been stressing out, you could always come to us and talk about it.” Pete said.

“I know, but I’ve been so busy, you guys have been so busy, with all my caretaking training, I never really see you guys as much anymore.”

“Is that partly what has been stressing you out?” Myka asked.

Claudia opened her mouth to respond but a large electric charge surged from the computer system and they all had to jump back to avoid it. The three of them tumbled to the ground, Pete reaching out to break Claudia’s fall.

Lightning crackled up above them and slithered down another aisle.

“I think both you and the Warehouse are stressed,” Pete said, he caught Myka’s eye and something in her gaze drew his attention. He snapped his finger at her. “The Warehouse and Claudia.”

Myka nodded slowly and tilted her head at Claudia.

“It’s me isn’t it,” Claudia murmured. “This is mine and the Warehouse’s fault.”

“No,” Myka quickly answered.

Claudia narrowed her eyes at her.

“Well, I don’t know, but Helena and I were thinking that there could potentially be a connection, but that doesn’t mean you have control over it. No one is saying it is your fault.”

Pete started to stand up, and he pulled Claudia up with him.

“It is weird that no past versions of me have showed up, right?” Claudia said.

“Noticed that?” Myka asked with a sly smile.

Claudia nodded slowly. “Me and my keen observation skills.”

“Hey, that sounds too sarcastic for my liking,” Pete jumped in. “As Myka said before, these events were happening in their original space, it could have been a coincidence we never ran into a highly charged event of yours.”

There was a small bump to his shoulder and he looked down as Claudia bumped her shoulder against his arm. “Thanks for trying to put the ol’ PR spin on things.”

He winked at her. “The point is, we are still in the dark on this, and maybe, yes there is a connection with you, but that doesn’t mean we start assigning blame or go off on solo missions.”

“I got it, I got it,” Claudia said and smiled weakly at him. “Your Senior reprimand has been acknowledged.”

“Good, maybe you can tell Artie about it, he seems to think I’m not Senior enough,” he replied and then caught himself, his nose twitching as he thought about it. “Actually, let’s not, let’s never tell Artie about any of this, ever.”

“What? You don’t think he’ll want to know about you and Myka in his bed and his toothbrush-“

“Claudia,” Pete warned.

Claudia smirked at him. “Right, right, it never happened.”

“You know what the toothbrush was for,” Myka muttered. 

“It’s true,” Claudia replied. “But those few minutes of wondering are logged in my brain, probably all of our brains collectively.”

Myka rubbed her forehead. “I’m making up contracts about never mentioning any of this ever again after this and we’re all signing them.”

“Like a gag order.” Pete nodded.

The smirk on Claudia’s face widened and while Pete was glad to see her stressed out twitching start to diminish, he was suddenly cautious. 

“Gag order, what an appropriate phrase, it was entirely gag inducing and-“

“Claudia,” he groaned.

“What? Myka hasn’t made the contracts yet.”

Myka pointed at her and raised her chin up. “Oh, I will.”

Claudia bit her lip in amusement.

Lightning sizzled and crashed behind them and brought back their focus.

“We should head back,” he said.

“Actually,” Claudia began. “I was out here because I was trying to see if I could get back into the system again, the search should be finishing up soon, based on how much time has passed.”

“But it wasn’t letting you,” Myka concluded.

Claudia nodded. “We really need to get back to office and the main system. Hopefully it still has been unaffected.”

There was a rhythm that began to pound inside of Pete’s chest, a tempo that had nothing to do with his heartbeat. He took a step back from the others and jerked his neck out as he listened. He could feel it, the tap-tap, and the way it moved up from his feet and rattled inside his ribcage.

“Pete?” Myka asked.

The rattling grew and then he heard it.

“Shhh,” he whispered. “Listen.”

The tempo was no longer just inside of him.

“That sounds like…” Myka trailed off and her eyes widened. “Tap dancing. Lots and lots of tap dancing.”

“Oh, jeez,” Claudia gasped.

“It sounds like they’re coming this way,” Pete said. “Hundreds of tap dancers.”

“Like they weren’t a pain in the ass the first time,” Claudia groaned.

“We don’t get a choice in what shows up,” Myka said. “Events will just keep repeating until we stop this.”

“Oh, man, Mykes,” he reached out for Myka. “Time is a flat circle and we’re just going to get crushed and flattened with it.”

Myka shook him. “Snap out of it, Pete.”

He blinked blankly at her. 

“Focus, Pete.”

“You’re right.”

Myka looked up at the shelves around them. “We need to move, and Claudia is right, we should get access to the database sooner than later.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” he asked, his ears twitching as he split his focus between Myka and the approaching army of dancing doom.

“The zip line,” she answered with a grin as she pointed up at the rope that was off to the right. “Claudia, how do you feel about taking a ride?”

“Doesn’t sound like the worst idea, beyond potential chaffing.”

Myka smiled. “It can hold two people.”

Pete rolled his head. “You two go, I’ll go back and warn the others. I remember the pinching last time you and me took the zip line. Don’t want to relive that.”

Myka’s grin slipped. “Relive,” she murmured. “Claud, we need to pick up some things before we use it.”

“Like?” Claudia asked. “And why?”

“We need to have an emergency plan in case we run into a memory of us on the zip line.”

“Oh, right. That also has the potential to be awful. Chaffing has been downgraded.”

“I know what we can use, it’s just over a few aisles.”

Pete’s heart thumped loudly as the tap-tap tempo grew.

“You going to be okay, Pete?” Myka asked.

“Sure,” he replied. “I’m calm.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“I’m going to go get Steve and H.G., and we will hold off the tapping to death, no flat circle.”

Somehow, her eyes narrowed further.

“Mykes, totally, you are right, focus,” he loosened his stance and smiled lazily at her. “Alright, alright, alright,” he voiced in a southern accent.

She blinked and smiled at him.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

He nodded. “Okay, time to go,” he nodded in the direction of the thundering taping. “Good luck!”

Claudia and Myka took off down the aisle.

“I have a cream you can borrow later for the chaffing, Claudia,” he yelled out.

“Didn’t need to know that,” she yelled back as they vanished around the corner.

 

While the increasing tempo of tap-tap was frightening and teeth chattering, it was helpful in warning him what areas to avoid, the impending doom was always a total give away and any time the symphony of tapping feet got louder he knew where to loop around.

But the moment he made it the Pete Cave, any victory was short-lived for the door to their sanctuary was wide open.

“What?” 

He cautiously approached but it was a futile action, as nothing prepared him for the fist that came from the open door way and punched him right in the nose.

“Ahhhrghhhhh,” he blurted out as he reached up and grabbed his nose. “Cr…ap,” he screamed as the sharp pain rang out from his now bruised nose.

Before he could recover the same hand grabbed him by the collar and swung him around and pushed him into the Cave. He was shoved up against the wall beside the door and then a knee to his groin stopped any further comprehension of the situation.

Sharp fingers dug into his neck, threatening to cut off his air supply. His eyes bulged and swung around the room wildly, he briefly spotted a recovering Steve, who looked like he’d been through a round or two with whatever walking hurricane that was hitting him. Steve tried to sit up, but stumbled back to the ground, his hand reaching up to cradle his head, blood dripping from a swelling fat lip, eyes unfocused.

“Where’s the mirror?” A slithering, husky voice demanded in his ear.

Pete froze.

“I said, where is the mirror, you bumbling dunce!” 

“Oh, hi…Alice,” he stuttered, as he focused on the mane of dark curls that loomed over him.

Past Alice pulled back, her arm locked against his neck as he struggled. Blindingly red lips pursed and blackened eyebrows arched. Green eyes flashed with a sparkling malice and cheeks twitched with a hungry madness. 

It was a mask morphed, a husk worn and reassembled.

And it wore Myka’s face, his best friend and partner.

It was disconcerting.

But he had been here before.

“The mirror,” she pressed. “It’s no longer there. Where did you put it?”

“What? That old thing,” he coughed.

A sinfully long black heel stomped down on his foot.

He yelped and grimaced.

“I know,” she leaned in, white teeth chomping. “You are hiding it somewhere, and I will destroy it.”

“Well, that’s seven years of bad luck right there.”

She pushed down on her heel and he tried to bite down the scream that bubbled up.

Slinky fingers circled around his neck, nails digging into the skin and drawing blood. A blank stare slipped onto her face easily, the raw anger briefly disappearing.

“I will not be caged again. Existence is not enough. I wish to live.”

“That’s fair, but hey, Alice, when you go about your living, you kind of keep murdering people,” he replied.

Lips twitched, eyelashes fluttered and a lustful hush fell over her face.

Amusement and sin as one.

“They’re just always getting in the way,” she replied, an eyebrow arched and a bubble of a giggle slipped out of her lips. 

She leaned in and he held his breath.

He closed his eyes as her tongue darted out and lapped up a trickle of blood from his neck as she pulled back one of her threatening nails.

“That is part of the fun though,” she whispered against his ear.

He suppressed a disturbing shiver as she pulled back, but her fingers still lingered, her grip unnaturally strong.

“I must say, while I abhorred the Warehouse and all of its little minions, I am very…” she paused as she glanced down at her body, the black trench coat melding to her curves. “Pleased with this body.”

“It’s not yours,” he seethed as he tried to push against her.

A sickening giggle popped.

“Oh, I think I’m going to have many delights with it and there’s nothing you can do about that. But there is something you can do about whether you and your recovering friend on the ground here, live.”

“How’s that?”

“The mirror.”

And the angry hunger was back.

He remained silent for a moment, his mind spinning with possibilities, no mirror existed, not the one she was expecting, but if he just sent her on a wild goose chase, there was no doubt she’d still kill them after he gave up any info, or even if he didn’t, she’d kill them and probably take her time. And if he told her the mirror she knew was gone, that probably wouldn’t help at all either. Alice’s whims from what he remembered were erratic. No, he needed to get the upper hand and subdue her somehow.

Maybe, he could stall.

“There’s this lovely pistol your partner carries that I have on me, but I much prefer…” she trailed off as she swung the hammer she’d had on her up in front of his face. “This. So archaic and messy.”

She pressed the sharp back end of the hammer under his chin, the cold steel seeped into his skin and he felt his mouth go dry.

“Should I start with your friend’s kneecaps? Would that slip the words from your tongue?”

The press of the hammer traveled down and hovered over his chest.

“Or.”

She pushed the spike of steel into the space between his ribs and he grunted in pain.

“Should I break open your ribcage like a lovely Christmas cracker, and what goodies shall I find inside.”

The white of her glistening eyes grew as they widened and refused to blink. The pupils flashing with anticipation.

“I’d put your heart between two tea biscuits,” she laughed darkly. “And I’d dip it in my afternoon tea.”

“God, lady, you are the very definition of crazy you know that.”

The look in her eyes sobered a moment. “It is better to be feared than loved.”

“Your damage is deep, I get it.”

“The mirror,” she repeated, the hammer settling over his hand as she pushed it against the wall.

“I wish to shatter that glass, but in it’s place, before I do, I may shatter the bone and the flesh of your hand, each finger a shard in its place until I have it. And while the sound may not splinter in the way I long, you will find I can be satisfied by many things.”

“Jeez,” he started to splutter.

“THE MIRROR!”

She pulled the hammer back, ready to strike it.

“Hey!” a female voice called behind them.

Alice turned around in surprise, her body spinning out from his as she stood in the doorway. A look of brief confusion marked her.

Pete found his body still locked in place. He was waiting for the fear to ease up.

Helena Wells stood in the center of the room, her arm looped around Steve’s side as she helped him stand.

“Where did you come from?” Alice yelled with manic rage. “How are there so many of you?”

Helena calmly raised her hand up that was holding a grappling gun. “We don’t need to get into specifics.” And then she fired.

Pete was pretty sure, Helena had squeezed her eyes shut, because he got it, Alice was crazy and insane and threatening all their lives, but she looked like Myka.

Super hot Myka.

But grappler to the face was kind of harsh.

The grappler shot out at a surprising speed and unattached from the gun as it knocked Alice in the chest and she was pushed out the doorway.

“What the hell kind of grappler is that?” Pete yelled. “Is it made out of a flying anvil?”

Pete found he was going to have more questions about the grappler when a small explosion just outside the doorway followed.

He looked at Helena in surprise.

“Did your grappler just explode?!”

Helena shrugged, her eyebrows furrowed in slight concern. “It’s a prototype.”

Pete darted his head out of the doorway and saw a small amount of smoke billowing around a knocked out Alice who was slumped against the stacks. Another small explosion erupted from the floor in front of her where the end of the grappler lay and Pete pulled back.

“What kind of prototype?” he asked.

“Don’t tell Myka,” Helena replied hurriedly.

Pete blinked at her in disbelief but then shook himself. “Thanks for saving my life.”

Helena shrugged and passed a still slightly out of it Steve to him.

A loud groaning noise caught his attention and he looked back out as the stack Alice had been thrown into started to fall as another small explosion popped up.

“Run! We don’t want to be trapped in here, in some kind of cave in.”

Pete and Helena pulled Steve between them as they ran out the door and away from the falling explosion of shelves.

“What’s happening?” Steve groggily asked.

“We’re running because H.G. just blew up Alice from Wonderland and has accidently set off a dominoes effect of shelves falling after us.”

Steve simply groaned.

“You sound like you are complaining?” Helena shot back at Pete.

“I’m not,” he replied.

“I can’t believe you ever fell for Alice in Myka’s body,” Helena scoffed. “She…she was…”

“Hey! Myka has layers, okay, Alice was like our first year together, and I don’t like to box people in! But yeah, Alice is insane,” he threw back as they rounded a corner. “So what was taking you so long anyways while she was doing all that?”

“I was unaware of her when she took out Steve, but then you two were making quite the noise, and I was waiting for the right opportunity.”

“The right opportunity, right,” he scoffed. “More like filing away kinks for later,” he mumbled.

“Pete?” Helena said stiffly.

“Yes?”

“Remind me to ask you to help me out when trying my next grappler prototype.”

Another explosion went off behind him and he rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, how is that little itty bitty grappler still exploding?!”

He turned to look at Helena as she worried her lip with her teeth, she caught his gaze and finally blurted out, “I don’t know, honestly.” She inhaled and then exhaled deeply. “Don’t tell-“

“Myka, yeah, I got it. We don’t tell Myka a lot of things.”


	8. Chapter 8

Task stacked upon task rambled through her brain.

Right now there was a particular order with Myka’s thoughts.

Current task: Find helpful artifact to get through the next step to then…fix current artifact conundrum that was causing their very foundation of time and place to malfunction.

Simple enough.

It had a nice order to it.

“Myka, right now I’m super happy about your memory abilities, but I would also like to put it out there that it still freaks me out sometimes, I don’t think I’ve ever even been down this aisle before, and I’m supposed to be closer to the Warehouse,” Claudia huffed out in one giant breath as she paused to rest her hands on her knees and bent over and then immediately grimaced at a hanging cobweb in front of her. “And your legs are freakishly long, you know you got here in like three strides. I had to double back and grab the bag with the monitor I left, but still, three strides, I swear.”

Myka hummed quietly as her eyes wondered over the new aisle they were in. “All I’m picking up on is that I’m a freak.”

Stepping on the tips of her toes Claudia reached up and wrapped her arm around Myka’s shoulder. “You say that like you think I mean it’s a bad thing. You’re my freak. Mine.”

Myka rolled her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek. “Are you now using me as a pillow?”

Claudia nodded against her shoulder. “Our little jog over to whatever aisle this is has reminded me that my misguided heroics earlier interrupted some still much needed sleep.”

“Misguided heroics do get the endorphins going for a little bit.” Myka slid down the aisle and pulled Claudia along gently with her. What she was looking for wasn’t in its original spot but she figured it might have drifted into a new spot close by; the particular artifact she was searching for had a habit of doing so.

“You read that fact in one of your past medical books?”

Myka tilted her head down and smiled at her as she shook her head. “More like personal experience.”

Claudia scoffed, “Like you are ever misguided.”

Myka stopped surveying the shelves and pulled her head to the side to catch Claudia’s gaze. “Claud, your attempt to fix the problem was not misguided.”

Claudia narrowed her eyes at her. 

“Not entirely,” Myka added when the young woman continued to stare.

“But…it was a little foolhardy of me, rushing out there, no back-up.”

“Focus on the good, Claud and just learn. It’s one of the best things about you, how you like to help, how you jump right into a problem with good intentions-“

“But I didn’t think things through, I shouldn’t have left you guys, you wouldn’t have-“

“I’m not perfect either,” Myka interrupted quietly and surprised herself when she didn’t grimace. She waited for the facial ticks but they didn’t come. “We can all have good intentions that go awry, I don’t think it does well for you to think otherwise, that some of us are somehow exempt from that, because we aren’t. Even with age. You are young but you are capable.”

Claudia smiled at her sheepishly. “I get it. Thanks for the big sister quick pep talk, because I’m sure you would have added a quote from some author on the paths we choose or how you don’t like green eggs and ham and our personal choices are free to be ours as long as we accept responsibility but we kind of don’t have time for that.”

Myka blinked at her. “So much was jumbled in there, and I feel you referenced ten different things.”

“Probably, it’s not like I can pull a quote from my own books on the regular to go with the setting.”

Myka pursed her lips and tried not to laugh. “Helena?”

Claudia dropped her arm and squeezed her around the waist before stepping back and pulling the bag with the monitor up higher on her shoulder. “She does it all the time,” she playfully groaned. “I mean, I know I haven’t read all of her stuff, just the basics, but now I’m always on the look out and thank search engine of the gods, Google knows what’s what.”

Myka laughed out loud and nodded.

“Besides, Green Eggs and Ham is a mystery, how do we know it doesn’t apply to this situation?” Claudia narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure I wasn’t far off the mark of what you were getting across.”

“Dr. Seuss wrote that book as a bet with his publisher on whether or not he could write a whole book with just fifty words.”

“Not even surprised you know that.”

Myka shrugged playfully, her shoulder dipping down towards Claudia as her eyes shifted back towards the shelves. Bolts of lightning sizzled above them, cracks and zings that appeared randomly and she would be loathed to admit, was starting to cause the tiny hairs on the back of her neck start to pay attention. The cracks and zings seemed more impatient than before.

There was a quiet that abruptly hovered around Claudia and struck Myka like a switch that had been flipped. With a subtle quirk of her neck, Myka noticed the other woman watching the passing lightning with a frown, her lips folding in, and the set of her mouth a straight line. A moment ago the rhythm of jokes between them had flashed with each blink of her eye but now there was a dull sadness that was settling in.

Shooting a quick look on either side of them and seeing no interrupting figures of the past on the horizon she turned her body towards the other woman and focused. 

“Claudia, what’s wrong?”

Claudia blinked at her slowly. “What?” she asked in surprise.

“You look upset.”

Claudia scoffed and tried to smile but a tremor of anxiety spilled out on her face, a dimple here and there twitching.

“No...”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Claudia guffawed and then rambled, “Not really the best time or place to stop and have a soul crushing existential crisis of a talk.” Her eyes widened when she realized what words had slipped out of her mouth. “I mean-“

“Why would it be soul crushing?”

“Myka, really, thanks,” Claudia threw her hands up in the air in every direction around them. “But we kind of have a mission right now.”

“We do, but I have found with most missions if one doesn’t see all the parts of it and make sure they’re in working order, the goal doesn’t really matter.”

“Working order?” Claudia scoffed and then her gaze travelled down towards the ground with a nervous shuffle. “This is my fault. I know.” She looked up and faced Myka. “I’m not in working order.”

There was a tightness inside of Myka that pulled and squeezed suddenly. She reached out and touched Claudia’s shoulder.

“The Warehouse has got you on edge,” she nodded up at the lightning. “Are you feeling-“

“What if it is my stress, me affecting the Warehouse, making this happen? Because of me and my…my doubts.” Claudia pulled into herself, arms tight against her sides as her face crumbled.

“Doubts?”

Claudia groaned and covered her face with her hands and yelled out between her fingers. “I’m panicking.” Her hands dropped. “I’ve been panicking! And I’m supposed to be getting all in touch with the Warehouse further, so it’s probably all my-”

“Stop,” Myka ordered.

Claudia stopped talking and stared at her silently.

“Nobody said this was your fault.”

“Yeah, but-“

Myka squared her shoulders, seeing that the talk on her part was going to have to take a particular route.

“Why have you been panicking and stressed?”

“Myka-“

“No, Claud, I think Pete was right, you need to get some stuff out. And I think whether or not it has to do with what is currently happening is equally as important.”

Claudia inhaled deeply and nodded at her. “Okay, okay.”

“So why-“

“It’s been over a year,” Claudia blurted out.

Myka didn’t soften her stance and simply nodded. “Yes?”

“Well, it means I’m getting closer and closer to when Mrs. F is going to pass over the reins and I’m starting…” she gasped and inhaled. “Starting to become more of aware of what that means.”

“And you’re having doubts?”

“Maybe,” Claudia rolled her eyes. “Realizations.”

“Like?”

“Everything’s going to change, like majorly and…” she started to bounce on the spot. “I’m scared,” she exhaled.

Myka waited a moment before speaking. “Claudia, things change all the time, it’s-“

“Life, I know. I mean I’m still…I’m still young, you know, and don’t get me wrong, chance of a lifetime, or lifetimes. Never could have imagined. But like…” her bottom lip trembled. “It’s going to be weird!”

Myka was taken back. “Weird how?”

“You’re like my big sister Myka, and I love that, I love that you teach me things and I love that you are older and I can go to you…and…well I’m going to be like your boss. How can I go from being your and Pete’s little sister, Artie’s…well you know and even Steve and H.G., it’s all…I’ve barely even gotten to see you guys these past few months, it feels like I’m out of the loop, like I’m not even-“ she was starting to hyperventilate. 

Myka felt it was time to intervene and stepped closer. “Breathe, Claud.” She squeezed her shoulder. “Look me in the eyes.” Claudia focused on her. “I’m going to say several things right now and I would like it very much if you paid attention.” She smiled lightly. “Please.”

Claudia nodded. 

“Good.” 

Claudia nodded again as her breathing evened out.

“It is normal to have doubts. I cannot imagine how you feel entirely, I have never been faced with what you currently are but I know part of you is excited, I know this is something you want and that you will have opportunities you could never imagine happen for you through it. But I do understand fearing change and at the same time, no one is going to make you decide to do something you don’t fully want to do, even after all this time.”

Underneath her hand she could feel Claudia’s tremors ease little by little.

“You’re in training, Claud, not a death sentence.”

Claudia rolled her shoulders and sheepishly looked at her. “Okay, even I know that’s a little dramatic. I’m not there.”

Myka smiled. “The point is, you can say no, you can turn around at any point, but to be honest, I don’t think you want to, I think this is something you do eventually want, to be Caretaker, but don’t let even me saying that sway your mind, I’m just giving you perspective on the woman I know.”

“This is going to get mushy isn’t it?” Claudia smiled but her voice quivered and lacked a full amount of sass.

“We’re family, Claud. You’re part of my family and maybe, maybe we haven’t all been able to be together in ways all of us would like while you’ve been training, and we can focus on that after we get through this. And if you’re worried about being our boss one day and thinking automatically everything is going to change, you are wrong, I’m still going to make sure you don’t sustain lifetimes on energy drinks despite temporary immortality.”

Claudia laughed out loud, her eyes glistening.

“I’ve talked to Helena before, about different ways Warehouse 12 was like, and she mentioned their Caretaker, said he was completely different than Mrs. Frederic, used to hangout in the Warehouse like a housecat she said.”

“She hated him didn’t she?” Claudia asked with a smirk. “Housecat isn’t a good description coming from H.G.”

“She tolerated him. But I think that had more to do with him so to be speak being seen as her superior. She doesn’t care for that.”

Myka winced when she saw Claudia flinch.

“That doesn’t mean she’s going to suddenly just tolerate you when you are Caretaker. That’s not what I meant,” Myka rushed out.

“But it’s true, H.G.-“

“No, the point I was trying to make before I messed up, see good intentions gone awry,” she paused as she shook her head. “The job of Caretaker may have the same conditions and responsibilities but each person who takes the job is unique and makes what of it they will. No one thinks you need to be another Mrs. Frederic; you’re going to be a Claudia. It will be how you want.”

Claudia swallowed loudly. “I never…I never really thought of it like that. More of this imposing sense of sudden fate of pressed dated blazers, mysterious riddles and isolation.”

Myka laughed. “I could see how that might be your thought. You will be our boss in some regards, but you will still be family. You will still get to do the things that define who you are.”

“Like ideas on new functioning log screens? Movie marathons and ice cream runs? Kick ass training?”

“Of course. Those things won’t disappear and I mean really, you will be Artie’s boss at some point too, how’s he going to fight you on some of your ideas then. That will be an immediate bonus.”

“But…” Claudia trailed off with a distressed grimace.

“Look, when it comes down to it, whenever you decide the deadline is, we can all set some rules, Caretaker business and professionalism vs. family time, because if you thought once you took the gig that we as a family was going to change, you are very mistaken.”

Claudia smirked at her. “Thanks, I was kind of starting to freak out, probably will continue to freak out later when there’s time, kind of have more than one concern about the whole thing.”

“I understand, but next time come to one of us sooner to get it off your chest. We’ll make time. I’m sure you can talk to Mrs. Frederic about how maybe this is moving a bit fast for you and you still want to be involved in other aspects and take some more time.”

“Even though I see her a lot more now, she doesn’t get less intimidating, but I will try it.”

“Listen, I had to have Mrs. Frederic’s bedside manner after the carnival business, you eventually start to get over it and just go for it with her.”

Claudia raised one eyebrow up. “Oh, you got over it?”

Myka shivered and huffed out, “Okay, not entirely, she helped me drink water. I still can’t believe it happened and if it’s still some kind of ongoing power play.”

“I promise when I’m Caretaker, there will be less power plays or wondering of potential power plays.”

“I will be holding you to that, Claudia Donovan.” Myka pointed at her. “But don’t pretend you aren’t going to get a kick out of appearing out of thin air and catching us off guard with knowing looks.”

“Yeah, you are right about that one, that will be awesome,” she laughed and then caught herself and sobered up, “I’ll probably not do that so much when you and Helena are alone though.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Both of Claudia’s eyebrows arched. “I’ve walked through enough doors into rooms with you two, to know always knock, always knock no doubt even when bestowed with the power of teleportation.”

Heat rose to the surface of Myka’s cheeks and she rubbed the back of her neck. “We are not that bad.”

Claudia’s eyebrows continued to do all the talking. 

“I’m ignoring what you are saying right now,” Myka said as she turned around and stared at the shelves. “You can keep saying it, but I am moving on.”

“Mhmmmm,” Claudia replied and then cleared her throat. “Current predicament means we don’t really have time to continue this all, but I appreciate the brief check in, so what artifact are we looking for to make sure we don’t crash into ourselves on the zip line?”

“We should move on, but don’t think I’m not going to be following up on your concerns later again, we aren’t finished.”

“Wouldn’t dare,” Claudia said, her voice rising with a lilt. “And, Myka?”

Myka took a chance and glanced at her and the eyebrows were silent.

Claudia smiled warmly. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Always.” 

“Of course, and listen, being unsure, that is normal. Or have you forgotten seeing a past version of me who wasn’t thrilled by the prospect of working here?”

“Yeah, that was something.”

“Worked out didn’t it?”

“I’d like to say so.”

“Me too.”

Claudia scrunched her nose up. 

White blazing light sizzled across their aisle and Claudia tried not to react, her knees locking in place.

“It’s all right,” Myka said as she looked from the passing light to her. “Whatever you are thinking, however you feel, you are not at fault for your emotions, and whatever is going on, I told you good intentions can go amiss all on their own, so I need you to get in the game and stop thinking every time you have a distressing thought you’re causing a reaction.”

“The game, right,” Claudia blinked and then clapped her hands together. “I’m in it. I’m here. Let’s do this.”

Myka smiled at her enthusiasm.

“So the artifact?” Claudia asked. 

“It should be…” Myka trailed off as she spotted the piece of fabric she was looking beyond a post on the second shelf. “Here.” She reached up and pulled it out.

“That looks like a worn out backpack with a lot of knobs and strings,” Claudia observed. 

“Sort of, it’s one of the first functional parachute designs,” Myka replied.

“I’m liking the key word, functional. But we aren’t exactly jumping out of a plane.”

“No, but if we need to bail, this works well for any soft landing, it creates it’s own air currents no matter the height.”

“Downside?”

“Use it for too long and you’ll get windswept hair for…a year.”

“Jeez,” Claudia screeched as she reached up and smoothed her hair down. 

“We might not even have to use it and if we do it would be for a few seconds at the most.”

Pulling a strand of her hair out in front of her face, Claudia started to coo, “It’s going to be fine, my very fine babies. I promise.”

Myka coughed.

“What? It’s not weird at all.”

“If you say so,” Myka laughed. “If you are done conversing with your bangs, let’s get a move on.”

“Right, focus. Uh, is that…” Claudia began, her jaw dropping as she looked around Myka. “Is that a swan?”

Myka turned around and slumped her shoulders. “Yes,” Myka whispered, her eyes glued to the large white swan that was staring them down from the end of the aisle.

“How-“ Claudia stuttered.

“It’s the swan from Bjork’s oscar dress.”

“Oh, and it comes alive does it, of course it does, of course Bjork has the power to bless a dress and make it an artifact. Icelandic princess of the woodlands.”

“You aren’t surprised?” Myka said out of the side of her mouth.

“Not even a little. But why are we talking quietly and no longer moving?”

“I saw that thing peck a past Pete on the butt and it’s fast.”

Claudia snorted and the swan’s feathers ruffled, its wings flittering up in the air.

“So, I’m not the only one suddenly feeling like it’s high noon with a magically inclined swan?”

“Nope,” Myka whispered. “Start backing up slowly.”

Step by slow step, they backed up, their eyes on the strangely still swan.

“Keep going,” Myka urged. “Almost to the end of the aisle.”

“Its eyes are too beady.”

“Stop looking at them.”

“Is it just me or does its feet look like they have sharp talons?”

“No, I’ve been focusing on its big beak.”

“There is that too.”

Myka shuffled back and knew they were almost around the corner.

“Ow!” Claudia yelled out, her elbow connecting with the end of shelf. “Argh, took the corner too close.”

The swan’s wings fluttered louder, the arch of them springing up and then the beak opened and the strangest sound emitted from it before it started to charge towards them.

The eyes were definitely beady. 

“Run!” Myka yelled out and turned around pushing Claudia in front of her to go faster.

“All we’ve been doing is running!”

“Well keep doing it unless you want to be pecked to death or smothered by feathers!”

“Incentive. Got it!”

 

“That wasn’t so bad,” Claudia muttered as Myka picked the last swan feather out of her hair. “Just a bit of a rough and tumble.”

The swan honked from somewhere around them in the distance, but Myka looked down safely from the top of a shelf under the zip line. Claudia breathed a sigh of relief beside her. 

“Fashion, man,” Claudia mumbled as she looked down on either side of them.

“The swan has gone,” Myka said as she started to hook the parachute pouch on her back.

A murmur of laughter erupted from Claudia as she pointed on the other side of the shelf.

“The swan may be gone, but looks like we’ve got two past Arties encountering each other.”

“What?” Myka gasped as she leaned over the edge.

“Careful,” Claudia whispered. “Don’t let them see you, already looks like they’re on edge.”

Two very frustrated and yelling Arties dressed differently were standing a few feet away from each other, their teslas up and charged. 

“You are an imposter!” Artie One yelled.

“No, you are the fake!” Artie Two yelled back just as loud.

“If you don’t put your weapon down right now-“

“No, it’s if you don’t put your weapon down right-“

ZING!

Claudia leaned back. “Yup, they just shot each other and are down for the count.”

“Could have been bloodier,” Myka added.

“Understatement, this is definitely getting out of hand.”

“Which is why we are on our way to fix it.” Myka stepped up and looped a buckle from the parachute straps around Claudia’s waist. “Ready?’

Claudia reached up and grabbed the handle of the zip line and pressed a switch on it and the rope slacked down, changing the direction. “Thank goodness for non-normal zip lines.”

Myka locked her hands around the bar on either side of Claudia’s. 

“1, 2, -“

“3,” Claudia yelled as they pushed off and went towards the direction of the office.

For the most part, their trip was the definition of smooth sailing and Myka felt a small amount of hope. But their definition was apparently open to interpretation because half way down, there was a mass of white and blue energy sparking angrily from a set of shelves and it was growing bigger and bigger and was heading towards them.

“Uh, Myka.”

“I see it.”

“I think that’s the same spot I was in when this all started.”

“You’re right,” Myka squinted in its direction. “The source must be-“ she was cut off when a flash of lightning shot off from the bubble like mass of energy and hit the strap connecting her to Claudia, effectively breaking and then of course there was a chain reaction of events.

Because of course.

The hit itself didn’t hurt so much, more like a shock from a rug, a very big rug, but the force of it had flung her away from Claudia and then again, because of course, the parachute chose that moment to react and release and Myka was sailing away back the way they had come on her own special air currents as the canopy opened.

“MYKAAAAAA!” Claudia yelled out as she continued on down the zip line and passed the mass of energy, her body jerking from her own shocks but Myka was glad to see Claudia was still holding on tight.

“Claud-“ Myka was jerked back roughly; the parachute having a mind of its own as it took her back farther and farther, Claudia a mere dot in her vision.

Grasping for the control straps, Myka frantically tried to gain some control on the direction she was going but it was as though the spark the parachute had been hit with had angered it.

Myka crashed into the middle of a shelf and fell less than gracefully towards the ground, the canopy of the parachute falling over her. Ignoring the sting in her lower back from the hit to the shelf, she hurriedly fought her way from out of the canopy and exhaled deeply, the sound catching between a sigh and a hysterical laugh.

Of course.

She could feel it, a tremor building inside her, a stressing hum along her skin, but she inhaled and exhaled and stood her ground.

Claudia had needed her help.

Claudia still needed her help.

“Claudia,” she whispered forlornly as she tried to yank the straps of the parachute off.

“Oh!” she yelled out when she reached up and touched her hair, her hands hurriedly smoothing it down. She couldn’t tell but it didn’t appear more unkempt than what the fall down would have done.

At least she hoped.

“Please, I know it’s vain but no bad hair day for a year, I can’t go back to the time before mom gave me conditioner.”

But before the panic could truly set in, before she really felt like she may have been on her way to becoming a hypocrite after her talk with Claudia, everything went black and she fell to the ground from a sudden hit to the back of her head. 

A rhyme from her memory mocking her as she went. 

Say!  
In the dark?  
Here in the dark!  
Would you, could you, in the dark?


	9. Chapter 9

The burning of the mixture of fuel and air in an internal-combustion.

A sudden, rapid, or great increase.

“Pete,” Steve whispered not too quietly behind Helena’s back. “She’s not blinking.”

“What? H.G.? Nah, that’s her thinking face, her plan face, it’s her face-face,” Pete replied in a hushed rush.

“Okay, well now you are blinking entirely too fast for everyone.”

“This is my face-face as well, Steve.”

“Stop saying face-face,” Steve hissed back, all pretenses at whispering disappearing. “You are jittery.”

“We just escaped maiming from one Alice Liddell and being buried in a bunch of exploding stacks. Excuse me, for being on edge from-“

“Don’t say it.”

“Death-death.”

Steve groaned. “Stop,” he stressed, once more attempting to whisper. “Back to H.G., she’s-“

“Fine.”

“She’s not moving and is staring blankly into space. The explosion-“

Bursting caused by energy.

“Caught us all off-guard,” Pete said. “It was an accident.”

“Okay, what about the fact that about ten minutes ago we heard Claudia bellowing for Myka, it did not sound good, and I think-“

A violent outburst.

Helena’s right cheek twitched.

“Shh,” Pete stressed.

“I think she’s in shock and-“

An act or instance of exploding.

“Would you both stop blabbering like a bunch of school children!” Helena yelled as she blinked once and spun around to face them.

The joints in her right hand cracked as she bunched her hand up in a tight ball and squeezed. 

“Uh, hey, H.G.,” Steve mumbled, his voice cracking as his eyes widened in alarm at her sudden outburst.

Helena breathed in deeply and remembered to exhale, the joints in her hand loosening a little.

“How is your head and lip?” she asked Steve bluntly.

“Uhhhh….”

“Are you still concussed in some form?”

Steve shook his head slowly. “No, just…just…just-“

“Just what?” 

“Yo, H.G., Jinksy is thankful for your concern but you may want to simmer down the scary Wells tone you’re putting out.”

Slowly, Helena turned her head towards Pete, her neck stiff. 

She blinked again.

“Just tired and sore,” Steve blurted out suddenly. “Hyped, aware, and functioning due to adrenaline.”

Pete gave Helena a knowing look. “Adrenaline and fear. Hard to tell the difference, really.”

Helena’s blinking routine returned to normal as she sighed and forced her body to relax a degree and she focused on the strangely nervous Agent Jinks.

“I apologize if my tone did not match my very sincere concern for your well being, Steve.”

Steve nodded quietly. “Hey, I get it-“

“But you were correct in some regard, it has been over ten minutes since we heard Claudia yell out for Myka and nothing has followed and we are stuck…” she paused as she remembered to breath and threw her hands up at the mess that had them backed up in a corner of the Warehouse, piles of ruined stacks blocking any way for them to escape. Any previous attempt to escape had led to angry, sparking artifacts flying up at them.

“Hey, at least nothing is on fire anymore, that died down when everything stopped exploding, thankfully,” Pete added. “I mean mostly because everything seems to have gotten smothered by debris but…” he trailed off, the optimism inside of him appearing to peak for a moment. “That debris is of course blocking any exit.”

Helena kept her mouth shut as she observed Pete scratching at the fresh marks Alice had left on his neck.

Steve shuffled awkwardly between them.

“I wish to find Myka,” Helena forced out.

“And Claudia,” Steve added with concern.

Helena nodded quietly at him. “Of course.”

“That’s the plan then?” Pete asked tentatively. “I got my H.G. thinking face and trying to keep it together face mixed up didn’t I?”

“Not entirely, from time to time, they are one in the same.”

Pete snapped his finger and smiled at her and then motioned to Steve. “I told you not to worry.”

“Yes, I’m glad H.G. is functioning, but still not really a-“ Steve replied.

“Let’s just stop saying the word plan,” Pete interrupted. “This is more of a flying by the seat of our pants kind of thing.”

“Oh, I’m with you on that,” Steve added a little too enthusiastically.

“Does anyone have a flying trousers idea for how we can get out of this hole we have found ourselves in?” Helena asked, the anxiety she felt at their current predicament and the sinking feeling she’d been fighting off since hearing Claudia yell out for Myka, churning in her stomach. It was important she focused on one task before the other. One thing before another kept the worrying to bearable degrees.

For now.

“Flying trousers,” Pete repeated as he stared at her. “Flying trousers.” He nodded. “Okay, I’m locking that one away to later make fun of you about because I recognize now is not the time. But how about the idea of, do you happen to have another grappler on you that we can use to swing ourselves over this mess?”

“Really?” Steve asked in disbelief. “Her last grappler just blew up.”

“It was a prototype,” Helena and Pete said at the same time.

Steve silently stared at them both for a beat and then scoffed. “Right, my bad.” He raised the palms of his hands up in mock defense.

“And no,” Helena answered. “I do not have another on me.”

“Thank goodness,” Steve muttered quietly to himself and avoided eye contact with her.

“I’d offer good old fashion climb and crawl over this junk, but there’s not only the concern of the solidness of the infrastructure but also most of it is made out of potentially active artifacts we don’t want to touch and have made a point of mostly hurting us when we get too close,” Pete said.

“Noticed that, did you?” Steve snapped back.

Pete pointed his finger at him. “Keep it together, Jinksy, now is not the time to get snippy or lose focus, if I can’t make fun of flying trousers over here,” he tilted his head towards Helena and she rolled her eyes. “Then you don’t get to start taking the time to grumble and use sarcasm, it detracts from the situation.”

Steve straightened his back. “It’s weird when you are suddenly mature. There’s never any warning.”

Pete clamped his hand over his shoulder warmly. “It’s called spontaneity, Jinksy. Look it up sometime.”

“It’ll be the first thing I do once we get out of this,” Steve replied dryly. “I’ll look over in this corner, see if there’s any way out,” he continued as he walked over to one of the farthest mounds of fallen stacks. “Carefully!”

“As if there was any other way!” Pete yelled back as Steve continued on with only one twitch that indicated an urge to respond and a mild limp. Helena was impressed. 

“You take the middle, H.G., I’ll look over here,” Pete said as he turned away from her. “Who knows, maybe we’ll find a rabbit hole…oh, god, no,” he paused as he groaned and cradled his head. “A hole, a regular old tunnel hole, no rabbit hole, no tea time or Cheshire cats or-“

“I understand,” Helena interrupted as she watched him flail. 

He half-turned back towards her. “We will get out of here.”

“I am planning on it,” she replied.

“And Mykes and Claudia, they’re tough, I’m sure-“

“Yes, I am sure as well,” she finished for him and walked away before either of their assurances began to dwindle. She didn’t want to know whose would first.

“Okay, but be careful, don’t touch any artifacts, we don’t want any more outbursts,” he called after her.

She started a little, a familiar urge fluttered across her face, a tickle that foretold a twitch, but she felt the joints in her hands remain unfazed and she continued on her path. 

 

“So…should we chance it?” Steve scratched the back of his head as he turned to look at the small hole of space through the debris he had found after moving a large chunk of wood. The spilt of a very large shelf was arched in the middle and had created a clear space under the debris to the floor. “It doesn’t appear to be that far to the other side and seems to be…” he reached out and held his breath as he delicately poked at the pile with a piece of wood. The tunnel remained intact. “Stable,” Steve exhaled.

“That surprisingly did not sound like there was a question mark at the end of that, for once,” Pete said.

“Well, no one seems to have any answers anymore for why anything is happening, I’m just sticking to statements for the most part.” Steve turned to Pete with a firm nod and a shrug of his shoulders. “Hesitating statements.”

Helena, for her part was already in the tunnel crawling on her hands and knees as Steve turned to Pete, so any follow up was muffled to a degree, but it sounded suspiciously like her name being called.

“Hey!” Pete called down the tunnel after her, his body blocking most of the light behind her. “Helena, what the in the gods of not thinking things through are you currently doing?”

Helena shuffled along and called lightly over her shoulder. “Pete, if you could please keep your bellowing down, I am not entirely sure this tunnel is sound against such a rise in decibels.”

She had to lean a bit to the left as she passed what looked like a very angry and sparking wooden spoon artifact that was sticking out. It wasn’t strange to her that the spoon looked like it wanted to slap her, but it was thankfully firmly trapped in the wall of debris, desperately jerking back and forth by half a centimeter.

“You should watch out for this large spoon sticking out after half way on the right side.”

“A spoon, right, got it,” Pete dryly called back, significantly quieter. “That still doesn’t-“

“We were wasting time.”

“Helena-“

“I am going to find Myka and Claudia.”

“Myka, right,” Pete drawled. “The Myka who is going to kill me if you get crushed to death by artifact debris.”

“What was that you said earlier, take chances, make mistakes.”

“Don’t tell me that’s actually your new motto? And your hair is way too perfect to be a Mrs. Frizz. In fact, are we sure your hair isn’t an artifact?”

Helena shrugged her head a little as she continued shuffling forward. “It has occurred to me that to pretend I am of a character otherwise would be rash. And I have no idea what my hair has to do with this.”

“Rash,” Pete snorted. “That for sure is-“

Two more hand crawls forward, a little shimmy of her hips and Helena tumbled out of the tunnel and onto the other side in one piece. She stood up, stretched her back and neck before bending over and looking back through the tunnel.

“There, all-“

“Fine,” Pete finished for her, his voice moving closer. She could make out his body crawling forward in the tunnel towards her. “It better be fine for all of us.”

“If you would simply focus on moving and stopped-“

“I am focused,” Pete huffed out; he was at the halfway mark. “I’m so focused, because I am also proving a point to Steve. He said he thought he should be the one to go next.”

“Why is that of any importance?” she asked.

“Steve said his hips were slimmer and my wide ones could cause the whole tunnel collapse.”

“And you jumped right at the chance of going next out of spite then, and how is that less rash than my urge to-“

“I honestly don’t know what is less anything anymore,” he answered with a groan as he caught up to her. “Measuring scales are all out of whack.”

In a less graceful act, Pete fell out of the tunnel and turned on to his back to stare up at her. “I didn’t die,” he gasped.

Helena hovered over him and shook her head. “Not yet.”

He frowned. “H.G.”

“It was merely a statement,” she replied. 

For a moment he was quiet except for his overly dramatic labored breathing. Steve was remarkably silent as he made his way through the tunnel, but it was not unexpected.

Helena observed the standing stacks around them. They were eerily still besides random passing sparks.

“Are you going to help me up?” Pete asked her.

She shook her head again. “I’m afraid the sudden motion could propel your larger hips to knock me down in your place.”

He glared at her. “H.G!”

Steve shuffled out of the tunnel and calmly stood up. “Did one of your hips pop out?” he asked Pete with a straight face.

The glare was no longer focused on her and instead turned to face Steve. The Glare, for it had fast become a capital, lasted five more seconds and then Pete grumbled as he turned over and pushed himself up.

“Where was-“ Helena began to ask only to be interrupted by Pete.

“They were going to use the zip line to get to the office, we might as well find that and follow it, would be my best guess,” he answered.

Helen nodded and stepped forward. “All right and keep an eye out for-“

“Pretty much anything,” he smirked at her as he fell into step. 

“Undeniably.”

 

“Shouldn’t we be a bit stealthier?” Pete whispered urgently behind Helena as she kept her stride purposeful and on point. Her attention briefly drifting up towards the ceiling where the zip line hung with pockets of light crackling and sizzling around it at random intervals.

“We tried that route, Pete,” she replied over her shoulder. “It has not brought us any luck.”

“Yeah, but we could run into any-“

“-of the walking memories of ourselves that I can hear about two aisles over, at least,” Steve added. 

“If they make it a point to travel over here, we subdue them and move on,” Helena replied as she continued forward in a straight line towards the office.

“Back to that idea then,” Steve mumbled.

“It truly did not leave my mind before, Steve.”

“Well, it is an idea,” Pete grumbled, the heels of his shoes scuffing across the floor as he jogged forward to catch up to her. “Just keep your right hook at the ready, Jinksy.”

Steve fell into place on Helena’s left. “So you are giving me permission to knock out a version of yourself then, Pete, no restrictions?”

“There’s a little too much glee coming across.”

“I promise if it happens, I will be swift and effective in the subduing.”

“How kind of you,” Pete drawled.

“I am kind.” Steve nodded firmly with a half-smirk shamelessly spreading across his face. “In fact-“

“Shh!” Helena interrupted, the sound of footsteps hurrying along at the crossing of aisles in front of them catching her attention. “Someone is coming.”

“Prepare your kindness,” Pete remarked to Steve.

Helena jumped forward and lined her body up against the edge of the shelf and waited for the person to pass by her in any second.

One.

Two.

…she swiveled around just as the person was about to cross the threshold and leveled her arm up for a quick hit that would truly be kind in it’s ability to knock one out so quickly, but the final flick of her wrist was stopped both by an ingrained instinct and a very strong grip on her arm.

“Myka!” Pete called with relief from behind her. “Wait, like present Myka, right?”

Helena exhaled, the synapses in her brain making the connection to breathe again. She slowly began to relax, the tension in her arm falling away.

The fingers over her arm twitched, the strong grip did not lessen. Startled eyes blinked right back at Helena in a delayed fashion.

“Myka,” Helena desperately breathed. “I am sorry if I surprised you, I was only-“ The hold on her arm tightened, painfully, but Helena’s attention was drawn elsewhere. The initial shock wearing off at what she had almost done as her gaze soaked up every detail of Myka’s appearance.

Myka inhaled and her entire body shuddered.

“Is that blood?!” Helena blurted out as she reached out with her other hand to touch the redness at the edges of Myka’s lips. 

Myka jerked back at her action.

“Whoa, Mykes,” Pete spoke up. “You’ve kind of got a whole spooked animal vibe going on. You okay? It’s just me, the Petester, Jinksy and Helena.”

Wild eyes blinked stiffly and then focused on her. “Helena,” Myka whispered hoarsely.

Scoffed marks of what she assumed was dirt was sprawled underneath Myka’s eyes in an uneven manner. Her curls were messier than usual, standing to attention at different angles and her clothes were torn, the jeans ripped and the shirt looser.

“Myka,” Helena began gently as she delicately tried to pry Myka’s grasp off of her arm.

“Mykes, you have a bad run in with one of the walking memories on the zip line? You’re kind of freaking me out.”

Myka tilted her head towards Pete. “Walking memories?”

“Uh, yeah, you know how time has gone wonky and the past in the Warehouse has been coming alive, how could you have forgotten that already?” Pete stepped forward and Myka’s spine straightened and Helena could feel her tense up. “Seriously, are you okay? What year is it?”

“The zip line,” Myka blurted out after a beat. “I…I fell.”

“What?” Helena said. “Are you all right?” She stepped closer and Myka did not flinch away but she could still feel how tense the other woman was simply through the grasp still on her arm.

“I…I blacked out.”

“Did you hit your head?” Helena lifted her other hand to the back of Myka’s head to search for any injury.

“I don’t know.”

Steve narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something but than he frowned and closed his mouth.

“Welp, this is great and new, a Myka who doesn’t know things,” Pete tried to joke but his voice was strained.

“What about Claudia?” Steve spoke up.

“I…I don’t know,” Myka swallowed.

“We need to get you medical attention,” Helena said, her composure faltering a moment.

“I am…I am fine.”

Pete chuckled darkly. “Right, of course, you only look like you’ve been through a trash compost because that’s all the rage right now and are totally acting normal.”

“You’re in shock,” Steve added cautiously.

“You’re being twitchy with Helena,” Pete added. “We need to get you checked out, for reals, Myka. Otherwise you’re going to make us twitchy with worry. No more twitching.”

Myka narrowed her eyes at Helena as Pete spoke. There was a beat between them as something slinked through Myka’s stare, a trail of emotion Helena could not name but Myka relaxed her grip and finally let go from holding Helena off. Helena’s hand drifted down from Myka’s head to rest on her shoulder, even as Myka angled her body away.

“Myka,” she began, as Myka’s focus began to drift again.

“Hmmm,” Myka strangely hummed and then attempted to catch her eye. “I apologize, I cannot seem to recall...”

There was a sharp twist inside of Helena’s stomach. 

And very much like an atmospheric cue, lightning sizzled above them angrily and too brightly, that Helena had to shield her eyes.

“We need to get to the office,” Pete said hurriedly. “Follow the zip line and maybe we will find Claudia, but Myka needs medical attention.”

“I agree,” Helena added as she watched Myka with concern, the other woman’s eyes dancing around in an unnatural fashion. 

“We’re practically back where we were, no closer to the office, how do you plan-“ Steve began.

“Don’t say plan,” Pete interrupted. “Instead pick up the nearest, safest to hold artifact that could be used to hit someone and let’s power through, any walking memories, it’s whack-a-mole, baby.” He slipped forward beside Helena and read a few of the logs for the artifacts on the shelf and after a moment picked up a long black umbrella. “This will do.”

“Of course it will,” Steve said dryly. “You take the lead with your sturdy weapon that will save the day.”

“Hey, when it rains,” Pete pointed the tip of the umbrella up at the sizzling light. “It pours.” 

Steve groaned as he looked over the shelves in their aisle and reluctantly picked up a golf club. “If I’m stuck with an urge to wear visors after this, I will blame you, Pete.”

“How is it my fault, that’s hardly a downside.”

“Visors are not an upside.”

Helena’s focus never wavered from Myka who awkwardly shuffled from side to side under her scrutiny. In truth it was less of a shuffle and more of inability to stay still suddenly.

“We should move, should we not,” Myka said. “If, as you say, these memories from the past are free to move-“

“Yeah, kind of a big deal, Myka, I know you’re a little loopy, but we can’t let any of them escape, who knows what other trouble they could get up to,” Pete jumped in. “Gotta incapacitate them if we have any run ins. But the idea is that we should move. Glad you’ve picked up on that at least. Not total brain damaged.”

“Pete!” Helena hissed in anger.

He shrugged back at her. “What, I’m joking. We can’t both freak out about injured Myka.”

“Perhaps, we should find more adequate artifacts to take them down with, like…in the Dark Vault,” Myka said.

“The Dark Vault is way ways away, and we should be figuring out how to stop whatever has made this all happen in the first place,” Pete pointed the tip of the umbrella at Myka playfully. “Not really your best idea, but you are forgiven because of head injury.”

Myka raised her eyebrows at him and absently curled her finger through her hair.

Helena watched their whole exchange silently, as Pete gently pulled Myka along with him as they walked forward. A sly smile crossed Myka’s face as she limped beside him.

“Perhaps you are right, it is simply the head injury,” Myka indicated to Pete.

“You’ll be okay,” Pete nodded as he helped her along. “You’ve got a hard head.”

Helena lingered.

“You’re quiet,” Steve said as he passed Helena.

“Yes,” she answered stiffly.

“Hey, she seems to be okay, I know you’re concerned but she’s conscious at least and you stopped in time before, well, any unfortunate knock out.”

Helena nodded as she followed beside him. “I believe it was not entirely me who stopped.” She glanced down at the bruise forming on her arm.

“Well, you’re both kick ass, bound to happen. Two strong forces meeting suddenly.”

“Yes.” 

“So barely talking now, is the way of coping, that’s fine,” Steve continued.

Helena did not reply as she watched Myka continue to limp ahead.

“Okay,” Steve pointed at her. “That, that right there is the H.G. Wells thinking face, I knew Pete was wrong before. So why that face right now?”

Not taking her eyes off of what was in front of her she nodded her head towards him and answered honestly, “I don’t know.”

“That does seem to be going around right now.”

“Yes, it could quiet possibly be an epidemic.”

“I can’t tell if that is a joke or not.”

“Neither can I.”

Steve nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Besides I do not think I am the only one feeling…off. There was something you stopped yourself from saying a moment ago.”

Steve rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah…I’m not sure.”

“Is that different from, don’t know?”

Steve smirked at her. “Still can’t tell if that is a joke or not.”

“It is no doubt an epidemic then, let us hope it is only that.”

 

Two wide golf swings, one whack over the head with an umbrella and a quick headlock had all been executed, professionally and proficiently in their continued pursuit towards the office. 

As a group they were all remarkably silent about the fact that only past Arties had been on the receiving end of each act.

It was just poor Artie’s past and present luck and had nothing to do with any inner working emotional discrepancies in the workplace.

Helena would never ever admit the headlock had been cathartic. 

She was above such things.

She was, indeed, a qualified specialist.

A professional.

“Crap,” Pete whispered ahead, he softly reached out to push Myka back against a shelf behind him. Myka did so wordlessly; she’d been mostly quiet during their trek, besides the odd question and Pete’s attempts to keep her talking in case the head injury was worse than they thought. His hands flying up and motioning as he had constantly talked, Myka’s eyebrows almost matching the height of his gestures.

The act was silent but Helena watched the way Myka’s body moved, the slight jolt and wavering away from Pete’s touch.

“Someone else is coming,” Pete continued.

“It would be weird if someone wasn’t,” Steve muttered as he pulled his golf club back, ready to swing for any needed trip up.

“I hope it’s not Artie again, guy is probably feeling a consecutive karma headache spell right now,” Pete said. 

“Better hope not, he could be on his way back here right now,” Helena voiced quietly.

“Yeah, and then we’d not only have a pissed off Artie, but an annoyed Vanessa.” Pete narrowed his eyes in thought. “I don’t think I want to see a version of Vanessa angry. Ever.”

“You are wasting time,” Myka said suddenly, her voice breaking through with its unexpected briskness. The lips on her face slipped into a timid smile when they all looked at her. “Footsteps are coming,” she added with a shrug as she tilted her head towards the right.

“Addled brain Myka is right, focus,” Pete said. “Whoever comes around that corner, I’m going to jump, okay, and H.G. you do some of your kempo moves on them, like…” he motioned with his hand chopping at an imaginary neck. He turned on his feet without waiting for her reply. “One, two, three,” he called out and jumped forward as a pair of feet intruded.

A pair of bare feet.

Bare feet that led to naked calves.

Naked calves that led to more…naked.

A strangled animal like yelp gargled in Pete’s throat as he flew back at the last second, his hands flailing in the air in front of him as he fought with a sense of propriety.

Planning to jump someone when that someone turned out to be naked created a can of worms that was innate. Pete’s body jerked awkwardly backwards, a whine transitioned to a small whimper in the depths of his mouth as his hands suddenly connected on what to do with them and he held them up in front of him in an act of coverage.

“Don’t hit me, we can explain!” he blurted out as he stepped back. He stumbled beside Helena and looked at her with a helpful gaze, his eyebrows raising up at her and then twitching towards her very naked counterpart that stood in front of them with a perplexing expression.

“Oh,” Past naked Helena uttered, her eyes connecting with Helena’s.

Helena was unfazed by the passing of emotions over her counterpart’s face, mild surprise, brief suspicion, and then…eagerness. 

A curious hunger.

Pete continued to hold his hands up, his gaze frantically trying to remain above past Helena’s neck. “Hey, uh, H.G., or other H.G., before you kempo all our asses, could I just take a second and explain-“

“An artifact mishap,” Past Helena interrupted, her eyes narrowing at them and then locking back with Helena’s. “No doubt.” She tilted her head up towards the ceiling as lightning sizzled. “I believe I caught on to that a little while ago.”

Pete slowly lowered his hands. “Wait, and you aren’t freaking out?” He turned and nodded at Helena. “Why is she not freaking out and trying to take you out like some kind of evil double? Where’s the cry of ‘imposter!’ and then you know, implied death?”

Helena rolled her eyes.

“Wow, that felt like that was in stereo,” Pete muttered and Helena caught the tail end of her past self’s own personal eye roll as well.

“I imagine this is a time paradox of some kind, at the very least,” Past Helena said. “Although, I have yet to figure out if I am a symptom of the problem or if you are the-“

“You are a past version of myself,” Helena spoke up. “It is now presently, months later from your time.”

Past Helena blinked thoughtfully. “I see, so, somehow, past versions of yourselves have by some means transcended the fabric of time and are now conscious and in the present with no idea of the timeline.”

“Indeed,” Helena nodded.

“Curious,” Past Helena nodded back.

“What the hell is happening?” Pete stressed. “How are you being so calm about this?”

“Don’t poke the bear,” Steve muttered under his breath towards Pete.

“I am not a bear, Agent Jinks,” Past Helena lightly reprimanded.

Steve bowed his head and coughed.

“Months in the future you say, and yet in that time you have somehow forgotten my history as the author of time travel?”

Pete looked between the two Helenas. “Oh, right, this is probably a wet dream come true.” He grimaced immediately. “No, no, not wet dream didn’t mean to say that with all the…” His eyes darted down past Helena’s neck and then he quickly jerked his head away.

“Pete are you all right?” Past Helena asked curiously and stepped closer.

Pete laughed and his eyes nervously focused on the top shelves of the aisles. “Just on edge with the artifact mishap, what with not being one of the creator’s of science fiction.”

Past Helena arched her eyebrow. “You do appear to be high-strung.”

Helena shrugged at her.

Pete moved back and out of the way, his retreat revealing Myka who had remained silently at the back of the shelf.

“Myka,” Past Helena beamed. 

Myka stared back at her. “Hello.”

Past Helena moved forward, her hand reaching out towards Myka with a concerned look. “You are quite, are you feeling well?”

Helena watched and noted.

“Fine,” Myka replied, her gaze never wavering.

“Myka has had an injury, she is out of sorts,” Helena interjected.

Worry etched itself in the creases of past Helena’s face. “An injury-“

“She just needs some space,” Pete threw in. “And well, we were trying to get to the office so we could check her out and see if she needs any medical attention, plus, you know stop this artifact business and we need to find Claudia and make sure she is okay.” He jumped on the spot as a crack of lightning dipped lower than normal. 

“Ah, I see,” Past Helena replied. “Therefore you would require a fast mode of transportation in getting Myka medical treatment and it would equally be beneficial in helping you gain an opportunity of more of an understanding to what is happening and help find dear Claudia who may be in need of assistance, I gather.”

“Uh, basically,“ Pete stuttered. “Getting to the office would be great all around.”

“One moment than, I shall be right back, if you could indulge me a moment,” Past Helena turned and went back the way she had come.

Pete gulped. “Sure.” He gazed at Helena out of the corner of his eye. “You really did have no idea you were naked, like at all.”

“I believe we’ve already covered this.”

“What do you think, she…you…she is doing?” Steve stumbled.

Helena shrugged. 

“Shouldn’t you, maybe, I don’t know, know what she might be up to?”

“Not in the least, she is a version of myself in the past reacting to new circumstances, I have no recollection of what she might have encountered during this experience to lead to her current mind set.”

“Right,” Steve nodded. “Totally.”

“Is she coming back?” Myka asked suddenly.

Helena shrugged again.

“Maybe we should split up?” Myka ventured.

“Why would we split up?” Pete asked.

“We’re wasting time, some of us could wait for this…other Helena and the rest could continue forward.”

And Helena found herself reacting to new circumstances just as well.

“What a splendid idea,” Helena said.

Pete turned his head towards her in surprise. “What? No, we should stick together, we need to stay together.”

“If you insist, but why don’t you and Steve at least check around the corner and see if you can indeed discern if my past self is coming back or not, as Myka correctly observed, we are wasting time.”

Pete hesitated and then pointed at her. “I hope you know what you are doing.”

Helena smiled sweetly. “But of course.”

“Come on, Jinksy, let’s go see if the naked wonder is on her way back.”

Steve and Pete walked around the corner together. Myka’s green eyes followed them eagerly as they went.

“Are you all right, Myka?” 

“Never better,” Myka coyly bent her head down.

“Good,” Helena replied as she stepped up beside her. “I hope then if that’s the case, we could move on from this charade.”

“Charade?” Myka blinked at her in surprise.

“Well, I believe you have separated us, isn’t this the part where you attempt to take me out…Alice.”

It was the flash of green that darkened quickly that gave Alice Liddell away a second too early, as the anger and rage in her eyes spilled out faster than her desire to hit out at Helena.

Helena caught Alice’s sharp incoming elbow and squeezed, her fingers applying pressure and Alice crumbled forward, her other hand wildly reaching over to scratch, to mark, to cut and open deep with an instinctive desire for damage and wreckage.

Helena calmly squeezed harder and stepped down on Alice’s foot.

And she focused, and she narrowed it down, that this was Alice, it was not Myka, she could not think any differently. The animal like growls that frothed at faded red stained lips was foreign enough to help her get through what she needed to do.

The fading red, not blood, but wiped lipstick.

The smudges of dirt on her face, dark make-up hastily smeared in an attempt to erase.

Bruises spotted here and there not from a fall from the zip-line but being caught in the debris made from an explosion.

But the clothes, the clothes were Myka’s that she had been wearing before this all started.

Helena pushed Alice down further towards the ground as she squeezed and applied more pressure on Alice’s foot.

“Where is Myka?” she asked.

Alice giggled, like sharp bits of glass popping and crushing together. 

It was not sweet. 

It was not a melody. 

It was a sickness that attempted to clog the air.

It was suffocating.

“Dead,” Alice replied, the word floating easily in between the disease she spouted.

Helena swallowed dryly before reaching down and yanking Alice’s neck back and spinning her own body around as she pushed Alice against the shelf, stepped in-between her legs and slipped her other hand up to latch around her neck firmly. 

A trickle of amazement sizzled in Alice’s eyes.

“Guess you do have more tricks up your sleeve, more hands on than I could have guessed,” Alice said, her breath struggling as Helena tightened her grip. “Something I can respect.”

“If you thought that little explosion from before was my way of being a coward, you really don’t want to know what I can do up close.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I’m sure we could have some fun.” Alice smirked dangerously, the action alien in its corruption, but the lips, the lips were so familiar despite the act and Helena looked away, her eyes focusing on the edge of the cheek instead as her stomach leaped.

“Where is Myka?” Each word grounded up as she forced them through her clenched jaw.

“Did you not hear me before?”

Helena shoved her head threateningly against the wood of the shelf. “For your sake, I hope you are lying.”

Alice struggled against her grip but smiled nonetheless, a grin worthy of a certain cat pulled on her face. 

Helena failed at concealing her grimace.

“Something tells me,” Alice huskily whispered. “You couldn’t stomach it.”

“Just because you look like-“

“Exactly, because I look like.” The white of her eyes glistened as she flashed a gleeful roll of her eyes at her and arched her back, her chest pushing out towards Helena.

Helena scowled back and tried not to pull away or shift uncomfortably, she couldn’t afford giving Alice the upper hand.

“It bothers you,” Alice continued. “And I don’t think you are really in a position to use the threat of torture. None of you are. You care for her and that care is a weakness even when I am not actually her.”

Helena tried to make the fingers of her hand curl deeper into the skin beneath her but they struggled.

“What’s your next move then?” Helena asked. “We clearly interrupted your route towards the Dark Vault, but you are dressed in Myka’s clothes, so you were prepared for any potential interruptions.”

“Like a psychopath can’t have a back-up plan,” Alice drawled.

“They rarely do, they never learn,” Helena hissed back.

“It wasn’t hard to pick up on the fact that something was amiss, all of you blathering on as you went, and then when I recovered from your poor attempt to deal with me, I saw her.”

“Who?” Helena leaned in and applied pressure on Alice’s foot.

Alice flinched but still grinned. “Another me.”

“She’s not-“

“Your Myka I gather. I assumed something with the mirror had gone wrong and the other one, the short one had been familiar with her as they traveled above on the wire, she was unafraid but then something went wrong and Myka was thrown from the wire and she…well…” Alice licked her lips. “Splat!” She hiccupped with laughter. “Right near me, actually, how fortunate for me. Just…splat!”

Helena leaned back slightly. “Nice try.”

“What?”

“Your clothes, they would be covered in blood.”

Alice arched her back again with a sigh, her chest grazing across Helena’s.

“I suppose, but I had to try, just to see the expression on your face.”

“Where is Myka?”

Alice pursed her lips.

“See the thing is, Alice, you want something, first, you desire to find the mirror to destroy it.”

Alice tensed up underneath her.

“Or you would like to escape from here, that appeared to be your plan b.”

“Well you do appear to be occupied with a bigger issue,” Alice replied, her red tongue peeking out between her lips.

“And what if I could give you both?” 

Alice sneered at her.

The twisting of features a macabre tick, like the wolf creeping out behind the sheep’s clothing, all the ghoulish teeth and horrid hunger no longer satisfied to linger under the surface.

Alice wore Myka’s face but it was now a loose fit.

“You want to know where the mirror is.”

“It’s most likely in the Dark Vault,” Alice snapped back. “You don’t have any leverage-“

Helena finally got her fingers to cooperate, at least for a moment as she squeezed harder and Alice coughed.

“You don’t know for sure if it is there, it’s your best guess. And my guess is, that while you are insane, you do have the capability to think at least one step ahead and if you thought it was a good idea to switch outfits with Myka, you perhaps left her alive somewhere in the meantime incase you were caught and needed a bargaining tool.”

“That’s…a…possibility,” Alice wheezed.

“So again,” Helena leaned in. “I hope for your sake, she is alive and-“

Alice abruptly shifted her other knee up and sharply hit Helena’s kneecap. Both of them hissed at the contact but Alice took the one-second Helena’s grip loosened to lean down and head butt her.

Helena groaned as she reached up to protect her head. She quickly stepped back, hoping to put some space between them as Alice swung out wildly. Helena looked for an opening even while her head stung from the contact; she stumbled more than lunged forward.

Myka was a strong fighter. 

Myka had a strong body; Helena knew how much work Myka put into her ability to use her body as a tool, to be prepared and ready.

Alice was strong by sheer will and artifact magic.

The two together, Alice in Myka’s body was like getting hit with a brick wall.

Helena hissed as Alice punched her in the ribs and swung her into the shelf, their positions shifting. Her head hit the edge of a shelf and Helena felt a headache coming on.

Another sharp knee was coming for her ribcage; Helena curled down and pushed it away. She used the momentum to grab Alice’s hips and push her into the adjacent shelf. Artifacts fell off beside them as they fought, one in particular, a shield that Helena didn’t have time to guess what century it was from came tumbling down and she just barely jumped out of the way as it fell between them.

The shield grazed by her shoulder as she was forced to fall back, her ankle twisting as she landed on the ground.

The shield mocked her as it continued to roll harmlessly down the aisle and Alice stood over her without a scratch.

The wolf had stretched and was limber.

Alice’s eyes darkened as Helena struggled to put weight on her ankle and stand up.

“I told you,” a giggle, a grin and the tip of a red tongue danced a routine right after the other. “That we were going to have some fun.”

“Get away from her, you bitch!” The yell accompanied by a surprising right hand hook out of nowhere startled Alice and had her knocked out cold beside Helena on the ground.

“Oh, Myka, thank goodness,” Helena breathed with a sigh of relief as she took note of who the very thankful right hook belonged too.

“Helena,” Myka whispered as she lurched forward and reached down to help her up.

Helena briefly flinched and then immediately apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s just you…” Helena looked at the black trench coat and heels Myka was wearing. “It is you, right?”

Myka smiled softly, her cheeks wonderfully not strained by an uncharacteristic grin, and although her face was covered in smudges of dirt and her curls were wilder than ever, Helena welcomed the sight, for warm green eyes gazed at her and had no other focus.

“It is,” Myka replied. “She switched our clothes, I have no idea how really, don’t really want to think about it.” Myka shivered. “I fell from the zip-line and next thing I knew I was standing up and was knocked out from a hit to the back of my head and I woke up dressed like this and tied up.”

She pulled Helena up and wrapped her arm around her shoulder as she bent down.

“Took me a while to figure out what had happened, but I recognized this outfit as the one Alice wore when I was in the mirror. Best guess was that she was here walking around pretending to be me again.”

“How did you get free?”

“Turns out Alice isn’t that great with knots, I think probably because she’s usually more focused on the maiming.”

“Yes that is most likely the class she excelled at and the others fell by the wayside.”

Myka smiled at her and brushed her forehead against hers. “Are you all right? You aren’t putting weight on-“

“Just twisted my ankle.”

“We should look at it and-“

“Myka,” Helena gasped as she cupped her cheek suddenly. “She could have killed you.”

“She could have killed you, as well,” Myka replied. “I really didn’t want you to have to see…her.”

Helena inhaled and leaned in to kiss her gently on the lips. They both lingered. Urgency briefly paused. 

Myka pulled back and looked down as she nudged the still unconscious Alice with her foot.

“She was…definitely more than I imagined,” Helena said.

“There’s something in your tone,” Myka chuckled as she observed her.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Pete thought I was, she was hot before you know…her crazy showed, does that mean-“

Helena leaned in and quickly covered her lips with her own.

“She was not you,” she exhaled across Myka’s lips as she withdrew.

“Smooth,” Myka mused.

Helena patted down some of Myka’s hair. “Are you injured from your fall?”

“A little sore.”

“And your head?”

“Mild headache but in general this experience in total has been headache inducing. And you?”

“Would it shock you, that I say the same.”

“I would really like a warm bath right about now.”

“Yes, I concur.”

“Sounds like we finally have a real plan, you know for after we figure out how to stop time and the concept of memory itself from exploding further in the warehouse.”

“Time exploding,” Helena laughed.

“Well how else-“

“MYKA!” Pete’s excited yell cut right through them, which was then followed up by Pete launching himself at Myka and effectively somehow group hugging the three of them.

“Pete,” Myka gasped.

“Oh, you are okay, I was worried.”

“Wait,” Helena started as she shuffled around in his grip, trying to free both her and Myka. “Why are you not surprised that she’s here and that-“

“Alice is knocked out cold on the ground.” Pete pulled back and shook his head at Helena. “Duh, I thought we had communicated that earlier. I figured it out when she was walking with me, kind of obvious by now, but I didn’t want to spook her. Figured we were waiting on the right time to jump her on whether or not she did something to Myka. Remember when I gave you those hand signals?”

“What hand signals? I thought you were just being expressive as you spoke with her.”

Pete stared at her. “Oh my god, are you telling me we were not on the same page the whole time? I had no back up?”

“Pete, your hand signals can be quite confusing and you are very expressive,” Myka said.

“They are not,” he argued and focused back on Helena. “What about when I told you, I hoped you knew what you were doing? How was that not clear?”

“I figured that was not an unusual sentiment for you to leave me with.”

“So when did you figure it out, because honestly I’m surprised we aren’t all sliced and diced right now then.”

“I had my suspicions something was not right, as was Steve, but nothing she had said was an out right lie, but still it was-“

“When,” Pete interrupted. “When did you, because you have been giving me such grief-“

“Uh, guys,” Myka interrupted. “I’m here now and Alice is down, everyone’s-“

“Why does it matter when I was one hundred percent sure, the doubt itself undeniably is what is of merit-“ Helena replied.

“When?”

Pete let go of them and pointed his finger at her. “H.G.”

Helena sighed and mumbled her reply.

“What was that?” Pete said. “I didn’t hear you, speak up.”

Helena thought about lying.

But then Steve considered it was an appropriate time to show up again.

“Did you tell them?” Steve asked Pete.

“Yeah, yeah, one sec,” Pete waved him off and focused back on Helena.

“H.G.”

“I do not see why it is of any importance, but if you must know, it was when…when I noticed she did not look much towards my past counterpart’s…well lack of attire and was not in the least bit flustered when we ran into her and-“

“Oh, my, god,” Pete started to laugh. “You didn’t know for sure it wasn’t your girlfriend until she wasn’t checking out your naked self.”

Pete shook his finger at her. “You can never give me crap about the Alice stuff again. And thank goodness for your ego, because apparently we could-“

“I said I had my doubts and that it was only when-“

“Right, right, when she wasn’t ogling you that it was confirmed.” Pete turned to Myka. “Can you believe this?”

Myka was silent as she blushed. 

Pete slapped his knee. “Hilarious.”

Myka punched Pete in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Stop it.”

Pete raised his hands up. “Fine, fine, I’ll just try and find something handy to tie the non-drooling Alice up, what a downfall. Steve, give them the details will you.”

Pete wandered down the aisle looking for a suitable artifact to use.

“Uhhhh….” Steve stuttered. “Myka?”

“Yes,” Myka replied.

“And that’s…Alice,” he pointed at her on the ground.

“Yes,” Helena answered.

“Of course, right, things make sense now,” he blinked once and then clapped his hands. “Umm, well your other self has fashioned together some form of-“

“Here we are,” Past Helena, who was still very naked, announced as she pulled up a large cart with a vat of neutralizer goo.

The cart had several fire extinguishers attached to the bottom of one side and had been tinkered with in some fashion.

Myka’s blush deepened when she saw her approach and Helena avoided doing something as crude as pumping her fist in her air. It was too Pete like, but the desire was there. At the very least a fine raised eyebrow in his direction would have sufficed but Pete was busy behind her.

“I passed this cart on my way here, and I found this very interesting artifact that when combined with the force of the fire extinguishers expelling that I have attached, will accelerate-“

“She has promised it won’t blow up,” Steve interrupted. “And I basically asked her to stop explaining because I didn’t want to think of all the ways we might die…because while she truly believes it won’t blow up, I don’t-”

“Yes, thank you,” Helena interrupted.

“I’m sure you can back me up,” Past Helena nodded at her. “The cart is big enough for all of us and sturdy enough to push most things out of it’s way and the neutralizer could be effective if…” she paused as she noticed Pete dragging Alice against one of the shelf posts and tying her up with some kind of hose. Her eyes then trailed over Myka.

Helena recognized the confusion, then anger, and then confusion again.

“That was an imposter Myka,” Helena said quickly. “This is the present day Myka, who is not an imposter. And, Myka, my past self has come to an understanding of our problem and has offered to help.”

“Hi,” Myka added, her voice a tad higher than usual as she rubbed the back of her neck and tried to maintain eye contact as her eyes slipped down, her blush doing an Olympic attempt at intensifying.

“Ah, I understand now,” Past Helena threw her a knowing smirk. “Shall we.”

Pete joined them again and jumped up on the cart. “Onward!” he called. “Yee-haw!”

“My headache is getting bigger,” Myka murmured to Helena as she avoided watching past Helena bend down and flick some nozzles on the fire extinguishers.

“Get ready!” Past Helena warned.

“Well, I do have a possible cure for that later,” Helena answered back with a wink at Myka as they got on the cart together.

“I don’t want to even get into how or why you are still-“

“Like you are not worked up at all, my dear,” Helena whispered.

Then she had to admire her past self; she really did, because past naked Helena chose to sit on the other side of Myka in that exact moment.

Myka stuttered a reply.

And for a brief moment, Helena did wonder if mind reading connections were possible.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to say thanks for the kudos and those of you who took the time to leave any reviews or kind comments. Always appreciated.

Claudia liked speed.

She was usually up for any chance to sup up an object to it’s maximum potential.

Internet connection that needed to go faster? 

She was your gal.

Technology in general that should reboot and work under five seconds?

The dream.

The amount of seconds it took to charge a tesla gun and shoot off, readied quicker?

Never better.

An old car that needs a tune up to go faster?

Let her get her tools and keep in mind safety protocols with a voice that sounds suspiciously like Artie, and she was down.

So, Claudia was very much an advocate for speed, it was proficient and handy.

But she wouldn’t say she was in need of it.

Not in her current moment.

She had no need for speed.

She had a desire for it to go away all together. It was neither a want nor a need in her existing predicament. She would have preferred it as an abstract thought in the distance of her mind and being.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” she hollered as she whipped along the zip-line at a pace that was distressingly off-putting. Fingers slipped and twisted harshly against the bars as she fought to stay on. 

But she was determined, Claudia swung her hips in the air and jolted her body up a degree and gripped the bars harder. Sweat slicked against her palms between the metal and shot a spike of added anxiety down her spine but she refused to give it any further consideration and she held on tight.

Parachuting out was no longer an option and Claudia really hoped Myka was okay, she at least had a few thoughts to spare for her fellow friend even as it felt like she was hurtling to her own death.

Friendship went deep.

“Ow!” she yelped, and then howled a trail of curses as bursts of warehouse energy zapped her from every angle.

But panic was more-

NOW.

“That is so not helping!” she hissed as she readjusted her grip and tried to ignore the burning feeling on her left cheek of her butt. “If there is a hole in my jeans, so help me-“

Energy sizzled ahead of her and the zip line dipped and slackened an inch more in response and Claudia widened her eyes and could only silently stare manically at her future as a second later her speed did the exact opposite of what she wanted and-

SPED UP.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The skin around her eyes twitched and she fought the urge the action was trying to convey. Instead, she opened her eyes wider and stared down at the aisles and stacks passing below her in a blur. She thought she could make out blob like shapes of a hundred of the tap dancers chasing Steve, and just Steve. No other blobs that meant dancing Pete, Myka and Artie were reliving the experience. 

Which meant, no copy of herself in existence either.

This was indeed totally her fault she internally groaned.

Might as well go for it, she figured.

Exhaling heavily once, she inhaled deeply, scrunched her eyes closed and just yelled with everything she had as she was propelled forward.

She totally had things under control.

 

 

Everything was dark.

And something wet was on Claudia’s face…and it was moving.

Which meant she was most likely alive and just needed to open her eyes, but also…EW.

Groaning, she reached up and rubbed her face, she opened her eyes cautiously and was thankful to see the ceiling of Warehouse office. She assessed her limbs and found them all in working order if a little bruised but she was indeed laying flat on her back and was no longer hurtling to perceived doom.

A furry head loomed over her suddenly and one large wet dog tongue slobbered itself along her nose.

“Trailer,” Claudia half-groaned, half-laughed.

The dog licked her again and again.

“Okay, I’m getting up, I’m up, and I’m alive.” Slowly, she lifted herself up and rubbed her lower back as she did, her other hand reaching out to pet Trailer.

“Thanks for the wake up call, buddy.” She rubbed one spot between his ear as she eyed the railing of the balcony she had just moments ago flung into, her foot catching it and flipping her over and somehow, miraculously she had landed on her back with no broken bones. Nausea passed through her and probably wouldn’t go by until it felt like she was actually standing and not still flinging through the air, when that would be, she didn’t bother to guess or question it, feet solid on the ground felt like a delusion but she was going with the flow.

She wobbled less by the second and took that as a win. 

“Where have you been hiding anyways? Wait…are you present Trailer, or are you…” she sighed. “What does it matter.”

Trailer barked at her and she jumped slightly.

“Right, I hear you, no time to wallow.” 

She looked around the room and was dismayed not to see the bag with the monitor. Frowning, she stepped out onto the balcony and knew her hard landing didn’t bode well for the item. 

The bars of the zip line were embedded into the wall and the line was smoking. 

“Okay, so my landing wasn’t so bad then. Coulda been worse.” 

A gleaming, crackling snap of energy flew over the balcony and Claudia ducked quickly, her hands out in front as she crouched down, her fingers coming in contact with a crumpled form on the ground. Her eyes lit up at contact with the bag and she carefully reached for it.

“Please, please, please be in one piece.”

With a delicate hand she opened the bag and peeked inside.

“Yes, thank you computer overlords!”

Claudia eyed the blazing sizzles of light that lingered above her with an irritated gleam. Clutching the bag delicately to her chest she shuffled back through the door on her knees.

Once through the door she rushed to her feet and lunged behind the desk. Poking her head up she watched the energy outside on the balcony with apprehension. A small whine came from below her and Claudia looked down to see Trailer curled up under the desk.

“You and me both,” Claudia said with a sympathetic smile. She looked from under the desk and back out to the balcony and sighed. “But I can’t join you.”

Squaring her shoulders, she tentatively rose up on her knees and started to set up the monitor. Her fingers delicately running over a few scratches in the screen as she gave a silent pray to the Warehouse that it was going to work.

The screen flared to life and Claudia didn’t even have time for a hallelujah as her eyes scanned the information rolling on it. A list of artifacts dealing with time and the past had already loaded, hundreds of them, but Claudia knew what she needed to focus on, the search narrowed down specifically in the aisles that it had all started in. The mass of energy she had seen forming there high up on the zip line was not only alarming but clearly a sign of where to start.

She just, honestly, had no idea why.

Typing in a few codes, she swallowed a hysterical scream, the sound of it vibrating in her throat as she noticed the system taking a slow time in even just bringing the information of the search she wanted forward.

The keyboard had the audacity to shock her and Claudia snapped her head back, eyes glued to the screen worried she had blown it. The information continued to load on the screen even as it flickered once. Claudia held her breath and took a big step back. 

A noise that differed from the accustomed soundtrack of energy crackling and humming from the balcony caught her attention. Focusing on the doorway, she waited but no one rushed in. Concentrating back on the screen, she mimed with her hands the act of strangling the system as her command lulled.

Footsteps raced up the stairs and her head snapped back up. Quick on her feet, she reached for the first hard object on the desk, the stapler, and slid along the wall by the doorway, the stapler held high.

If it wasn’t any of her present day comrades, she really didn’t have time for it.

“Oh, no,” a familiar voice whispered just outside the door, footsteps stalling on the balcony.

Claudia’s chest ached, her ribs squeezing tight as her eyes soaked up the image of the person just standing out of reach, their back facing her as they looked out towards the stacks.

The stapler dropped from her hand as Claudia gasped quietly and stepped out on to the balcony. It bounced loudly against the ground, and like a record scratch, ruined her reverie and emphasized the numbing pause she felt catching in her lungs as the vision played before her, and abruptly crashed into reality as that vision turned around to face her.

“Claudia,” Leena sighed with relief as she reached out and grasped her shoulders gently. “Are you alright?”

Claudia nodded quietly and numbly. Bone grinded against bone inside of her as she tried to expand her chest, breath and words fleeting in the face of the kind and warm eyes she had longed for looking back at her as though not a day had passed.

“Good,” Leena continued, as she cupped her chin briefly before pulling back and looking out at the stacks that were brimming with currents of overflowing energy.

The numbness that had sunk into her skin slithered away at the warmth Claudia felt at Leena’s gentle touch on her face. 

But still the words caught and tumbled in her suddenly aching and seizing throat. 

“I have no idea what is going on,” Leena spoke as she gazed over the railing with concern. “I have never seen the Warehouse like this before. I was busy figuring out where the latest snagged artifacts should be placed, when a static storm flared up and then…” Leena trailed off as she turned away from the railing and focused on her. “I know this is going to sound strange even for us, but I saw two Steves talking to each other about how they didn’t have an identical twin and would like to know what prank Pete was pulling.”

Of all the things to finally spill out of her mouth, it was a bubble of high-pitched laughter that decided to be the first.

Leena paused in her assessment of their surroundings to step closer towards Claudia, a small line of concern pinching in her forehead.

“Claudia, is everything okay?”

Claudia blinked and felt a heaviness behind her eyelids, the edges of her sight blurring at moisture that threatened to fall. She coughed lightly and cleared her throat.

“I’m good,” she breathed.

Leena smiled at her. “It’s going to be fine, whatever this is, we will fix it.”

Claudia nodded.

“Pete or Steve must have set something off. I tried initiating one of the neutralizing showers over where I saw the two Steves but the system was jammed. I didn’t want to engage with them in case it was more than it seemed and evidently…” Leena raised her eyebrows up as a flash of energy zipped by. “Although, both Steves seemed less concerned and more annoyed if anything.”

“The system…” Claudia’s voice trembled. “The system here is slowed down as well.”

“But not completely out of service?”

“No, I’m trying…I’m trying to fix it.”

Leena stepped back as more energy flared up over the railing. “We need to deal with this fast.” She glanced at Claudia. “See if you can get the showers working from this end or if any alerts have popped up. I’m going to go to the gooery to stock up on some neutralizer in case the showers won’t come through and make sure it isn’t backed up. We need to be prepared.”

“Right.” Claudia nodded. “I can deal with it on my end and you go…” Claudia tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Leena paused, the concern on her face growing and Claudia knew she had to pull it together. Smiling slightly, she saluted Leena. “We can do this.”

Leena smiled at her and warmth tingled all through Claudia, her bones stopped grinding, she felt a tremor along her neck and a moment later the air felt less heavy around her as she inhaled easier.

“I will be back,” Leena said as she turned to go back down the stairs. “But I have no doubt you will be able to figure out the problem before I do.”

“Wait!” Claudia yelled out, the one word so loud and abrupt the other woman startled on the spot.

Leena turned around before the top step. “Clau-“

There was no thought before the action, it just was, as Claudia leaped forward and wrapped her arms around the other woman in a tight all-encompassing hug. At the contact, for a brief second, Claudia felt her chest threaten to twist and crush again but she inhaled deeply as she tucked her chin into Leena’s shoulder and when the other woman wordlessly wrapped her arms around her in return, she pushed down any pangs, for she needed to note and remember this with no affliction and only content.

A new memory to hold, a chance to sense it on a level no longer granted, if only for a moment that existed in the now and touched further then recollection. And later, when she had this exact time to recall, it would feel farther away, maybe first the smell would the thing that wobbled in her brain, maybe the exact pressure of touch would be wrong, but there it would sit, fresh and new and would have the power to fight off regret, stronger than before.

“Claudia,” Leena whispered calmly, her name on her lips expressing, concern, love, and a question.

“I just…” Claudia stumbled. “I love you, you know and…” She pulled back as Leena did and laughed helplessly. “I don’t mean to be dramatic, but…sometimes, the Warehouse acts up and…puts me on edge.”

The smile never really left Leena’s face. “It’s going to be okay, we will be okay.”

Claudia nodded. “Of course. You always know how to talk a girl down from the heightened emotional attacks.”

Leena squeezed her hand once before heading back down the stairs. “We will talk about this when I get back.”

Claudia inhaled sharply. “Right.” 

Leena descended the stairs and Claudia called after her. “Thank you.” At the bottom of the stairs, Leena turned to look back up at her. 

“For?”

“For everything,” Claudia called back and found it wasn’t so hard to smile through the tears she felt brimming in her eyes. Not when she got to see her friend’s face looking right back at her for one last time. Even if that face was slipping into a further look of trepidation.

“It’s just been…a hectic time…today, and you...made me feel better.”

Leena nodded and called lightly over her shoulder as she walked away. “I will be back for you, Claudia.” 

It wasn’t until she walked behind a stack and out of sight that Claudia released the sob that had been rattling in her chest. Gripping the railing with one hand, she squeezed it tightly and bent over as she felt everything shift inside of her, fragments trying to pull themselves back together. It was but a moment, and then she focused on the warm scent that filled her nose, and the lingering pressure she felt on her arms and she pulled herself back up with a smile. One tear finally fell, and she reached up and wiped it away, but the smile stayed. She looked back to where Leena had gone and shook her head lightly. 

“What a life,” she whispered to herself fondly. “What a day.”

Beeping from inside the office alerted her and she ran back inside. 

Emotional breakdowns were going to have to take a backseat.

From the long lists of artifacts, the search had finally pulled up the one that would fit under the found category and was narrowed down to aisle 545D.

Just one.

Claudia stared at it in confusion.

“What the?” she blurted out as she read it further.

 

 

Every other stack in the Warehouse sounded like some kind of world ending phenomenon was occurring, yelling, teslas shooting, fists making contact with fists, vague sounds of a dance-off, sex noises or two people really intent on moving difficult furniture, but Claudia paid it no real alarm as she made her way to aisle 545D. At this point so many versions of her friends were interacting, there was no point in hiding and any time she walked down an aisle with something particularly disturbing she spun right on her heels and took a different route, the other occupants too distracted.

Reaching down she pulled the post-it note she had stuck to her chest off and read over it again. Her eyes skimming the artifact information once more before sticking it back to her shirt. Who knew if she’d wind up in an accident and if the others found her they would need to know what they should be focusing on.

Even if she didn’t entirely know why it was the focus, it was good to have the information present.

Trailing behind her was one of the mobile staircase ladders as she dragged it with her hand.

There were many clues that she was almost at her desired location. The air above her was zinging with flashes of energy in waves denser than before. The tiny hairs on her arm and the back of neck started to rise, not even in a scary figurative sense, she could see it with her own two eyes as the hairs stood up straight.

The biggest clue of all was, of course, the giant dome of energy that had taken over the two aisles on either side of 545D and was expanding. 

A pretty big indication.

No doubt.

“Oh, boy,” she sighed as she stared at the fluctuating dome, the sight on the inside warped and hard to decipher. “Guess this is it.”

A shock from the dome reached out and zinged her arm. “Ow, yeah, I got it, this is it,” she yelled up at the ceiling. “Clearly.”

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “I have no idea what I am doing but here goes nothing.”

Opening her eyes, she pulled a set of purple gloves out of her pocket and snapped them on. Next, she grabbed the small travel sized canister of neutralizer off of the stair-ladder she had brought and cranked the lid open.

“I’m really hoping you aren’t trying to kill me and that H.G. and I were right about this energy not being capable of ending me, but hey,” she whistled low and looked at the dome of energy and then back at the canister. “Precautions it is.” Lifting the canister over her she turned it upside down and the purple goo spilled out and landed on her head and dripped down to cover most of her.

Setting the canister down she wiped her face off around her eyes. “Well, it’s been good times and hopefully more good times, so let’s do this.”

Carefully, she approached the dome and extended her arm out, no shocks shot out to hit her and only one small patch of skin not covered by the purple goo was standing to attention with raised hairs. “So this wasn’t totally a crazy idea,” she exhaled, realizing somehow she was a conduct for whatever was happening.

Sticking a goo-covered finger through the dome, she was pleased to see it went through. Crossing into the dome felt like rubbing against a very scratchy sweater but it was preferable to instant death. 

She wasn’t going to be picky.

Pulling the ladder with her, she had to duck down as soon as they were both through. Inside the dome everything was brighter, louder and filled with more expanding currents of energy flinging from every corner. The entire thing wasn’t going to be stable for long she imagined. One chunk of her hair that hadn’t been smothered with goo was standing up. Her skin tingled and her bones were thrumming.

Time to do this quick she thought.

Keeping low she maneuvered over towards the exact area she had been working in before and walked up the steps, hissing under her breath as a zing of energy hit her right on the small patch of skin on her arm that was goo free.

Looking over the shelf directly below Buster Keaton’s hat, Claudia was dismayed to see a hole right where the artifact should have been that she was looking for. The edges of the hole smoldering as though something had burned right through.

A snap of energy hit her right on her left knee and she clenched her jaw in retaliation. 

“Where are you?!” she yelled out.

Going down a step she craned her neck out and looked at the shelf under the hole. In between a clutter of other artifacts she could make out the small glasses she was searching for.

Glasses that weren’t all that special to look at, common shape of lenses and simple wire frames. Frames that were now flaring up like hot orange coals as energy sizzled around them shooting off to every corner of the dome, the glasses halfway to burning another hole through another shelf. 

Claudia squinted as she gazed at them.

No, they certainly weren’t a pair of normal glasses. 

Claudia slipped a neutralizing bag out of her back pocket and popped it open. She hesitated a moment at how hot the glasses glowed and how they vibrated. Artifacts around the glasses were pulsating in response to the activity and creating their own disconcerting energy static. Picking up the canister, she used it to knock the glasses towards the edge of the shelf. They sizzled angrily as she did, energy crackling in quick sharp bursts around her as they moved. Quickly, she knocked the glasses into the bag and sealed it shut. 

Any victory was pretty much non-existent as she looked around her and saw the dome still growing and the energy flare-ups building, particularly right above the bag she was holding. With concern she observed the bag and started to panic as it glowed and an outline of the glasses started to burn through it.

“Hot! Hot!” she yelped as she opened the canister and threw the bag into it, hoping the goo-covered walls would be extra help. 

For a short burst, some of the energy flashing by slowed down but then the bottom of the canister began to glow and Claudia panicked.

“Oh, not good, not good.”

She rushed down the ladder and landed on the ground, the canister held out as far away from her as possible without dropping it.

“So right about now would be a good time for a back-up plan,” she murmured as she danced on the spot, looking around for anything to help while not focusing on how hot she was starting to feel.

Sparks from the canister started to lick at her knees and she jumped up and down.

It was as though her panicked movements were really a dance that called forth the saviors she needed, her feet pounding an S.O.S. into the hard ground, that or just really good timing, as in the moment the heat she was feeling was working her feet into a hop, a sight she never knew to prepare for burst through the dome and stopped three feet in front of her.

A sight that included a gleeful looking Pete with an angry Steve sitting in front of a speeding cart, a large vat of neutralizer goo behind them and just behind that a very stern but blushing Myka crushed between a completely unaware naked Helena and a not so secretly amused Helena. 

Claudia blinked in shock.

“Claudia!” Pete hollered as he jumped off the cart towards her, his voice different than usual. “You are here.”

Claudia blinked again.

“Pete, why are you speaking with an English accent? You messing with H.G., again?”

Pete clutched his hand to his chest. “I am? Huh?” He used the umbrella he was holding to scratch under his chin. “No bother. But you, my dear, look frazzled and unwell, you know what would sort that, a spoon full of-“

“No!” Steve yelled and pushed Pete out of the way, a golf club gripped tightly in his hands. A spark of energy zinged off of the club but Steve was unfazed. His facial features ticking and stretching widely, his eyebrows arching painfully as he continued, “Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!”

“Okay, we soooooo do not have time for whatever has happened to you two, kind of got a crisis literally in my hands.”

“Do you have the artifact?” Myka called out.

“Yes! But the bag and the canister didn’t neutralize it, it’s packing too much heat, literally,” Claudia answered hurriedly as she rushed forward, pushing past the strangely altered Pete and Steve. Pete was signing a tune that sounded like ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ as Steve whacked a post of a shelf with his golf club. 

“You can’t handle the truth!” Steve yelled over and over.

“Over here, Claudia,” Helena called, as her and her counterpart yanked the top off of the vat of neutralizer. “We assumed it be best to change our course when we saw what was going on over here. You have done wonders in locating the artifact.”

“That’s me, full of wonder. I hope this works,” Claudia replied as she stopped before them.

“Throw it in, Claud,” Myka added.

Claudia nodded, her eyes catching on Myka’s black outfit. “Myka, what are you wear-“

“We don’t have time,” Naked Helena urged. “And I believe the chance for any other pleasantries will have to pass. The longer that thing is activated the quicker things are going to become unstable, the very fabric of-“

“I got it, nice meeting you other H.G., but time to shut this thing down.” Claudia threw the glowing canister into the vat of goo and they all looked away as bright sparks flew up around them and then a final dazzling white light flashed from the vat high into the ceiling and then slowly fizzled down. 

“Woah,” Claudia said as she uncurled her body from the position she had crouched into when the sparks had gone off. “Did it work?”

“I believe so,” Helena answered, her counterpart gone, along with the dome and energy currents.

The Warehouse was still.

“Awesome,” she sighed. “Because that felt like we almost cut it too close.”

“That is usual protocol,” Helena said with a sly smirk. She reached into the goo and pulled out the fortunately, no longer glowing canister. “I think we should procure the items from Steve and Pete and neutralize those as well.”

Claudia followed Helena’s eye line and smirked. “Yes, that would be good, before Pete, Mary Poppins himself into the ceiling.”

Pete was drifting a foot off of the floor as he held the opened umbrella above him. Steve was wildly swinging his golf club high around Pete.

“And before Steve hits him with my guess, Jack Nicholson’s golf club.”

“Indeed. Myka, are you-“ Helena cut off with a surprised sound catching in her throat. 

Claudia started to turn around.

“Stop,” Myka said. “Don’t turn around, Claudia.”

“Uhhhhh…why?”

“Oh, Myka,” Helena said softly.

“I’m naked,” Myka answered stiffly.

Claudia huffed out a laugh as she walked towards Pete, jumped up and yanked the umbrella away from him and dodged Steve a few times until she caught the club and pulled it out of his grip with a sharp twist.

“Why does that keep happening?” Claudia called behind her as she hurried back to the vat, her eyes forward watching as a suddenly cheerless Pete and fuming Steve looked at each other in confusion. “Here,” she added as she passed Helena the items over her shoulder and turned away when they sparked in the goo.

“What happened?” Pete groaned as he rubbed a hand over his face and shook his head back and forth. “Why do I have an urge to find some penguins to dance with?”

“Do my eyebrows look weird?” Steve voiced, the tips of his fingers reaching up and rubbing over them. “They don’t feel right.”

Claudia chuckled. “You were whammied by the umbrella and golf club you were holding, the umbrella from Mary Poppins and Jack Nicholson’s golf club, but you’re okay now.”

Steve narrowed his eyes at Pete.

Pete shrugged. “Hey, at least it wasn’t a visor epidemic.”

“My eyebrows hurt. It’s like I strained them.”

“But again, eyebrow strain vs. visor epidemic.”

Steve rolled his eyes, his gaze catching on the air above them. “The energy is all gone.”

“You found the problem,” Pete said as he turned and fully faced Claudia. “Way to- Myka!” He yelled out and quickly raised his hand up to cover his own eyes and used his other hand to cover Steve’s as he turned as well. 

“What?” Steve asked in concern but not moving Pete’s hand.

“Myka is naked, Steve, be respectful,” Pete rushed out.

Steve’s shoulders deflated. “I didn’t even get a chance to, of course I’d be-“

“Guys,” Myka interrupted, her tone stressed. “Just stop talking about it. And Helena, please stop…stop looking at me like that, it is not helping.”

“I do not know what you are referring too,” Helena replied smugly. “I am only looking you over to make sure you are not injured in any way. I am, to be sure, being the very epitome of helpful.”

“Is embarrassment an injury?”

“I don’t think you’re going to get workers comp for that one, Mykes,” Pete spoke up.

“Thanks, Pete.”

“Not that I’m not being respectful, but I can’t help but ask,” Steve begin, not moving out of Pete’s hand. “Why are you naked, Myka? I mean, I know it’s kind of been a theme of-“

“My clothes disappeared when Claudia neutralized the artifact,” Myka stressed.

“Oh…” Steve drawled. “But why?”

“I imagine it would be because the clothes Myka was wearing do not actually exist anymore in this moment of time,” Helena answered. “They were Alice’s and she and anything of hers is no longer present.”

“Alice!” Claudia yelled out in surprise, her eyes wide with unease. “MykaAlice was walking around here this whole time? Freely!”

“Be glad you didn’t run into her,” Pete said. “She tried to switch out with Myka here, clothes and everything.”

Myka groaned. “I can’t believe that psycho took my bra and underwear as well.”

“You only picked up on that now?” Claudia couldn’t help but ask.

“No…but I was hoping it wasn’t going to come up.”

“It’s like the fabric of time, literally, disappeared off of your back,” Pete laughed.

“Pete.”

Pete stopped laughing at Myka’s tone and immediately offered, “Would you like my shirt?”

“Yes.”

“You got it partner.”

Lifting his hand off of his face, Pete kept his eyes closed and pulled his shirt off and tossed it in front of him towards where he knew Claudia was.

Claudia grabbed it and passed it over her shoulder. 

“Thank you,” Myka uttered quietly as she grabbed it. 

The sound of fabric moving shuffled behind Claudia.

“Helena, I can get dressed myself,” Myka hissed under her breath.

“Are you sure you aren’t injured?” Helena followed up.

“Yes, but the same won’t be said about you in a minute.”

Claudia’s shoulders hitched as she tried to contain her chuckle. “Can I turn around yet?” she asked instead.

“Yes,” Myka replied darkly.

Turning around, Claudia tried not to smile too wide at the image of Myka pulling Pete’s shirt down past her butt and holding it there, the material stretching wide as she crouched down for more coverage.

“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” Claudia said, remembering Helena’s words from before.

Myka’s left eye twitched at her. “I am not ashamed, I am being practical.” Her fingers tightened around the hem of Pete’s shirt. “And…it actually is kind of cold in here.”

“I have a few remedies on how to solve that-“ Helena began as she slinked up beside Myka.

“Helena,” Myka ground out her name as a warning. 

“I don’t think it’s safe to open my eyes yet,” Steve said.

“Guys,” Claudia began. “Maybe it’s time we move on and assess the damage to the Warehouse.”

“I’m going to have to open my eyes for that,” Pete said. “So, Helena keep it in your pants and Myka we will all pretend you have pants to keep it in as well.”

Myka sighed and closed her eyes and counted under her breath slowly.

“1,2,3,” Pete voiced and then opened his eyes. “And by the way, you all better be respectful of my Teton-pecs.” He motioned his hands in front of his chest. 

“Respectful?” Claudia echoed.

“Yeah, you know, recognize their glory,” he answered as he posed and flexed his arms, his chest puffing out.

“Again, I really don’t think I should open my eyes,” Steve said, his eyes still shut.

“Pete, stop, Steve doesn’t deserve to live in a world of such darkness.”

Pete grumbled and stopped. “You can open your eyes, Jinksy.”

Steve slowly opened his eyes and focused on Claudia. “So, Warehouse is back to being stable?”

Tilting her neck, Claudia looked up around them; everything was quiet and the ozone smell they had gotten used to was starting to diminish. “Looks that way.”

“What was the artifact?” Myka asked.

Yanking the post-it off of her shirt, Claudia held it out in front of Myka. “A pair of glasses that belonged to a psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist.”

“Endel Tulving,” Myka murmured as she read over the note. “He made the distinction between episodic and semantic memory.”

“And the difference is?” Pete asked.

“Semantic is the memory of general informative like facts, but Episodic, which was a main part of his research, is recollecting specific experiences from memory. The past. And further work into how cues, like visuals, places or words, affect our recollection of those episodes.”

“That does sound right about on point,” Helena added with a thoughtful nod.

“Yes, but I don’t understand what activated the artifact,” Claudia began. “And it says in the description that a person has to be wearing them in order to see past episodes of memory in the present.”

“Claudia,” Pete called as he walked up the ladder still in place. “You said you had been working on the top shelf before?”

“Yes, and the glasses were on the shelf below. But my hands never moved from the top shelf.”

Pete scrutinized the two shelves and then looked back at Claudia, his eyes moving up and down her body.

“Pete, what is it?” Myka asked.

“I’m not sure. Claudia, did anything happen at any point, did you miss-step or-“

Shaking her head at his line of thought, Claudia caught herself at the word miss-step.

“Uh, at one point I slipped, but I caught the top of the shelf and still my hands didn’t touch any artifacts.”

Pete jumped down from the ladder and walked towards her. “I don’t think it was your hands that made the contact. Your knee, Claudia.”

Claudia looked down at her knees and noted the tear in her jeans that revealed the skin of her left kneecap. “Oh,” she uttered.

“When you caught yourself, it is possible, your leg swung into the artifact and brushed against it without realizing.”

“Maybe,” Claudia offered, still slightly confused.

Pete snapped his finger at Helena. “Fashion does kill.”

Helena rolled her eyes.

“But…but, that is possible, but the artifact says you have to wear them to see the memories and they are the memories of that person come to life in that particular setting, these were not my memories,” Claudia rushed out. “I wasn’t even apart of them.”

Everyone was silent as they mulled that fact over.

“Conceivably,” Helena began. “This is but one of the ways the Warehouse works in a mysterious conduct. A flare up of sorts.”

“Like you aren’t interested in an answer,” Claudia directed at her. “Of all people.”

“Believe me, Claudia, I would very much like to find a rational answer to this occurrence, but perhaps, now is the time to take a breather and be thankful we fixed it nonetheless.”

Claudia let her words sink in and remained silent.

“Let’s all head to the office and check the system, and de-brief,” Pete offered. “Take a breather and all that.”

They all nodded.

“Plus, Myka really needs some pants, otherwise her party is going to get everywhere.”

There was a sudden universal silence around them.

“’Cuz you know, party in her pants but no pants-“

“Pete,” Myka said calmly. “I am about to run you over with this cart.”

“See you at the office, guys!” Pete yelled as he quickly ran around the corner.

 

 

Spinning around in her office chair Claudia faced her fellow anxiously waiting agents.

“I just did a scan and everything appears to be back in order, system is working perfectly, no alarms or alerts and we didn’t run into anyone on our way here.”

“That is good to hear,” Myka replied, her hands still clutching with a death grip around the edges of Pete’s shirt against the top of her thighs.

Helena approached with a small blanket from the corner of the room and passed it gently to Myka. Relief flooded Myka’s face as she wrapped the blanket around her bottom half and stood up straight giving Helena a quick thankful peck of her lips on the other woman’s cheek.

“Yes, but no indication on how the artifact manifested the way it did,” Claudia continued.

“Maybe, we can ask Artie?” Steve ventured.

A round of “No!” flew right back at him.

Steve raised his hands up in defense. “It was just a suggestion.”

“We never speak of any of this to anyone else,” Myka demanded.

Pete and Helena nodded in approval.

“But what if we haven’t fixed the problem, what if whatever happened interacts with other artifacts in such a way and…” he trailed off when he noticed the concerned look filtering onto Myka’s face, her shoulders slumping.

“You are…” Myka sighed. “Possibly, right.”

Claudia keenly watched the frown slipping onto Myka’s face, knowing Myka’s mortification was fighting with her stronger attribute of doing what was right. “Yes, you would be right, Steve.”

“Research is needed then,” Helena spoke up, her eyes glancing at the clock on the wall. “We still have time before Artie will be back.”

Pete snorted. “There’s the rest of our Saturday and Sunday.”

“Honestly, I don’t think we should stress too much. Believe me I am just as curious, very curious, but…strangely no longer as concerned, I feel…” Claudia began, only to trail off as she turned back to face the computer, her gaze moving past it and out the window towards the stacks. The tight wound up feeling of panic that had thrummed through as things had escalated was no more. “Everything seems to be back in place and I’m not getting any general bad feedback from the Warehouse. The only thing I’ve picked up on with the diagnostic run is that the area by Pete’s Cave is strangely indicating some kind of possible damage that needs to be-“

“What?” Pete blurted out. “No, I’m sure that’s nothing.” 

“An anomaly in the system, no doubt,” Helena added, the two of them sharing a heightened look and then glancing away.

Steve looked between them. “Why are you both ly-“

“Hey, Steve!” Pete interrupted. “How is the head feeling? I’m sure a lot of your memories are disorientated.”

Steve opened his mouth to reply when a noise by the stairs drew their attention. All of them looked up as someone began to come down the spiral staircase.

Nobody moved.

Feet descended with each step and revealed Abigail gazing at them with relief. “There you guys are, I was beginning-“

“Oh, man, it didn’t work!” Pete interrupted her, his eyes frantic. “Some are still walking around.”

“What?” Abigail said in genuine confusion as she stepped down onto the floor.

Everyone was frozen to the spot.

Abigail laughed nervously. “Seriously, guys, what is going on, you are acting very odd, and…Myka, why are you dressed like that and Pete where is your shirt?“

Pete reached forward and gently gripped Abigail’s shoulders. “I just need you to know, I would never send you to quicksand. I never would. I care about you. Every one of you.”

Abigail nodded slowly and patted his arm. “Ummm…of course, Pete.” Abigail blinked with worry. “Are you all, okay? I thought you were to have the weekend off. None of you were at the B & B and then when I arrived here, there was no one and no note.”

“Wait,” Claudia said and stood up “You mean to say you just got to the Warehouse, as in you walked through that door from outside?” She pointed at the door to the umbilicus and back to her.

Again, Abigail laughed nervously. “Yes, I got an earlier flight back from visiting my family. How else would I enter the Warehouse?”

A collective sigh of relief ran through the group and Pete pulled Abigail in for a hug. “Thank god.” He leaned back. “But the quicksand thing, it still stands no matter what. I just need you to know that.”

“Pete,” Myka hissed as a warning.

Pete let go of Abigail in one delicate motion.

“Honestly, what happened?”

No one was entirely up for looking her in the eye.

Pete cleared his throat and then took one for the team. “Just a small Warehouse mishap, and actually, Abigail it would be great if you could drive Steve and Myka back to the B&B for a change of clothes and then if you could take them into town to get checked out by a doctor. They can explain on the way.”

Myka shot Pete an exasperated look.

“A doctor?” Abigail asked worriedly.

“We don’t need-“ Myka started only for Pete to jump in again as he stepped up beside her.

“Myka, both you and Steve had mild head injuries, you should be checked out before anything else.”

“I would have to agree with Pete,” Helena added with a thoughtful look, her hand reaching up to caress Myka’s forehead tenderly.

Myka glanced at her and relented. “All right.”

Pete leaned into her, his shoulders blocking Abigail for a second as Claudia heard him quickly whisper. “Make something up about the small, remember, small, mishap to Abigail. Small. Tiny. No big deal.”

Sharing a look with Steve, Myka nodded after a beat. “Yes, Abigail, we would both appreciate your assistance. Steve and I had, a minor mishap.”

“Of course, anything to help,” Abigail replied, her expression a mixture of confusion and concern. “You can explain on the way.”

The three of them turned to the doorway.

“I should come with you,” Helena said softly towards Myka as she gripped her hand. 

“No,” Pete said a little too quickly. “I just mean…”Pete chuckled forcibly. “I’m going to need your help, specifically, H.G., with that…anomaly, remember. Anomalies…are like…your trade.” His chin dipped down and up towards her. “We should at least check and make sure.”

Helena’s eyes widened a degree, a look of open realization before she wiped it off her face. “Right,” Helena replied, a little too quickly.

Claudia squinted at the two of them.

“I will see you in a bit, darling,” Helena leaned up and kissed Myka softly. “Please take care of yourself.”

“Anomaly?” Myka asked curiously.

“Myka, now is not the time for such talk, you should be focusing on you.” Helena stroked her cheek and then nodded at Abigail. “Please, don’t let them both be too stubborn not to get checked out by a doctor. I have no doubt they have been placed in great hands.”

Abigail nodded back and opened the door for them to follow.

“You are laying it on a bit thick suddenly, don’t you think,” Myka whispered back at Helena. “Anomaly?” Myka repeated as she walked backwards through the door and narrowed her eyes at both Pete and Helena. “Don’t think I don’t know you two are hiding something.”

The door shut closed before they could even reply and both Pete and Helena sighed with relief.

“So, you two going to explain that?” Claudia asked with amusement.

“No.” Helena answered. “But, Pete and I do have something to attend to, and then I will be leaving to join Myka, in all seriousness, so if there are any other, anomalies, you can handle them Pete.”

Pete gasped. “Hey, I’m helping you out, okay, any other anomalies would totally be yours and relax, Myka will be fine, it’s just a precaution for them to get checked out.”

“Anomaly is barely even code anymore,” Claudia smirked to herself. “Truthfully, for once, I don’t need to know the extent.”

Pete mimed zipping his lips and then unzipped them a second later. “You feeling all right though, you got a little roughed up too? And it may not have been a head injury but you did kind of pass out-”

“I. Aggressively. Fell. Asleep.”

“Oh, Claudia do let that go,” Helena waved her hand in the air dismissively.

“Says you,” Claudia raised both her eyebrows up. “The woman who somehow claimed to do a jig with the ghost from Christmas past that only you could see last Christmas, and then later declared when your fever broke that you had merely been trying some new stretching poses because you’d over indulged on dinner.”

Helena’s mouth was a fine line, as she remained silent for a beat before speaking again, her jaw clenched. “I was undeniably stretching then, a festive sort of stretching, just as you were not passing out,” she said seriously. “I’m sure we can all agree.”

“Come on, guys, just both let it go,” Pete groaned. 

Claudia waved him off. “I’m just feeling tired, and could use a long hot soak in a bath. You two go and do whatever you need to do, the anomaly, my best guess meaning a clean up of some sort. No doubt, something exploded.”

Helena opened her mouth with an offended glint in her eye. “Why would you-“

“Let’s go, H.G., don’t even bother,” Pete pushed her lightly back out on to the balcony as he went. Pete stuck his head back through the door. “Don’t stress yourself out too much trying to figure out everything that happened while we’re gone. Get some rest, Claud.”

“I’ll try.”

“Claudia.”

“I promise to rest, Dad.”

Pete clenched his jaw. “I am not the dad,” he whispered desperately as he disappeared back through the door. “I’m like the cool older brother or the non-creepy uncle who is also cool and has great hair.”

A shift of tension Claudia didn’t know she was still holding in her shoulders eased with a shake of her head at Pete’s antics. She allowed the euphoria of amusement to settle in its place. 

Gently tapping the computer before her she leaned forward and whispered towards it, “I forgive you. No more shocking, please. We’re a team.”

Claudia had antics of her own.

 

 

Sunday brought with it a sudden concept of how much time had passed so quickly, the sought after weekend-off already slipping through their fingers. Friday and Saturday had felt like a mad blur. 

Claudia had only briefly gone back to the B & B to shower, change, eat and grab some quick sleep. All basic needs, but standing on the balcony outside of the Warehouse office, her gaze never faltering on the stacks before her, her fingers tightened around the guardrail and there was still something missing. 

Something she felt she hadn’t fixed or done.

A need or a want, she couldn’t tell the difference and didn’t think it mattered. An answer was desired all the same and she wasn’t going to argue if it was a necessity.

For, curiosity remained. 

A tick in her mind that begged with its burrowing.

It felt like a duty.

The pad of her thumb rubbed the railing, her nail tapped against it, her gaze slipping from the action to discretely peak at the empty space by the stairs.

Yesterday, a time that was no longer present, but fresh in its existence was a marked point, an instant that she had seen Leena. 

Leena was gone.

Impossible and, yet…

Briefly, she had seen her, she had spoken with her, she had seen her smile, she had touched her, she had felt warmth and-

Claudia’s chest squeezed tightly, her flesh taut and prickly around her ribcage.

Who was she to question such a gift?

Scrubbing her face with her hand, she sighed and stretched her neck, despite rest and a shower, her body was loudly screaming back at her that the soreness wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

The tick in her brain wasn’t helping either; it tumbled around and nestled with a heavy weight.

She was supposed to know the ins and outs of the Warehouse, along with the sides and the tops and corners and that one particular swirling dark mass that never sucked anything in but would sometimes throw out dancing dandelions in the corner by section 768F.

It didn’t sit well, the not knowing.

It felt like the beginnings of failure and already so soon.

“Ms. Donavon.”

Claudia turned and nodded at Mrs. Frederic’s appearance. It was the usual sudden and unexpected tactic implemented by the other woman, but Claudia was not thrown off. It was no longer sudden or unexpected. It always, just was.

She’d take her growth wherever she could.

“Mrs. Frederic.”

Mrs. Frederic took a step to stand beside her. “Are you enjoying the view?”

“Just taking things in,” she replied with a shrug.

For a quick second the caretaker’s lips twitched and Claudia knew she was in for it in some way or another, the certain angle of the tell revealing the possibility of an amused half-smile or at the very least a knowing smirk.

“Even after all this time?”

Claudia raised one eyebrow up in response. “You saying you ever get sick of this view?”

The twitch was there again. 

Subtle. 

But there.

“Something tells me that if I had have been here yesterday the view may have been quite different.”

“Yeah, something,” Claudia huffs out with a sarcastic snort. “Where were you then?”

“Occupied.”

“Right.”

“You will learn that sometimes a caretaker’s job is not to always be at the heart of the problem. The Warehouse team and you handled the issue.”

“Is that a sort of, if you fix everyone’s problems for them, they’ll never learn on their own lesson?”

Mrs. Frederic finally smiled at her without any regard. “Not exactly.”

Claudia mirrored her expression. “Good, because that be kind of cruel.”

“Only if it were the case all the time.”

“Mrs. F,” she gasped playfully.

“I can tell you that was not entirely the case yesterday, but I sense that my presence was now needed in order to, possibly…settle a conundrum.”

“Conundrum,” Claudia repeated. “So you do know why the artifact did what it did?”

“Some research of my own was needed, but you were at a disadvantage, you do not yet have my years of reflection.”

“Disadvantage, yes, still the newbie in training.”

“One is not always expected to have all the answers, Claudia, it would become quite a tiresome weight, but…” she trailed off a moment, her focused gaze locking on the view beyond the balcony. “Maybe, even the perception of that weight is why?”

Claudia thought Mrs. Frederic was going to continue but she didn’t. She frowned in confusion.

“I don’t-“

“This was not your fault, Claudia.” Mrs. Frederic pursed her lips. “Not exactly.”

“Gee, I’m feeling better already.”

“There are all pieces to come in to play and I may admit that I played one unconsciously.” 

“You?” Claudia said in surprise. “Indirect action? Never!”

“Do not mock, Ms. Donavon.”

Claudia cleared her throat awkwardly and nodded.

“It has occurred to me that communication has been lacking between us on your future.”

Claudia swallowed dryly, the action trying to stall the second sarcastic snort that rose up. “I don’t know what you mean, I mean no offense, Mrs. F, but we have been spending a lot of time together, and if not I’m busy doing whatever,” she paused and made air quotes. “Warehouse Homework.” She dropped her hands down quickly, not meaning to mock again. “You assign for me.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Frederic simply replied.

The level of control Claudia showed in not rolling her eyes or blinking helplessly was also attributed to growth. Instead, her grip on the railing tightened.

“It was my mistake in not recognizing the signs,” Mrs. Frederic continued.

“The signs?”

“You have been stressed, Claudia, you have been…not always happy.”

The railing groaned below her and Claudia slowly lessened her grip.

“Mrs. F, this is what I want, I-“

The caretaker raised her hand up slowly. “I do not doubt your commitment to the job and your future, it is not a weakness I speak of towards you, it is a concern and acknowledgment of my own hand.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Things have moved too quickly for you.”

“Mrs. F-“

“Again, I do not speak of this as something wrong or awful.”

“Then…”

“You are a strong and capable young woman, Claudia and maybe it is time to remind us both that you are your own person. Becoming caretaker has no set date. It will happen when the time is right. It is one of the few instances, where barring no sudden needed trips down the Nile, where it will most likely happen when you decide and no earlier. Life rarely has such assurances, but I am here to give you that.”

“The Nile, right,” Claudia smiled.

“It is best to gloss over such things, we do not need to cover all the details of that episode again.”

Claudia nodded.

“The point being, that it has come to my attention that your preparation does not need to be on the fast-track.”

“But-“

“There are things you miss already, are there not?” Mrs. Frederic asked calmly. “Hobbies and desires of a person your age would have outside of this Warehouse.”

“Are we getting into my dating life?” Claudia narrowed her eyes.

Mrs. Frederic didn’t even hide her amused smirk.

“You have missed the experience of missions as well, and to a greater degree the presence of your fellow agents…your family.”

There was an annoying lump forming in her throat.

“It is my fault if you have believed this all has been set to a specific timeline. There have been things, important things that have slipped away due to this. Sacrifices that should not have been made already.”

“I…” she stuttered.

“The caretaker is to have many responsibilities, and each one takes up the mantle in their own way. You think of me sometimes above the coming and goings of this place of wonder, but that is simply my way. I was not an agent before I become caretaker. You are. And there are things to consider.”

“Are you guys…are you changing your mind about me?”

“My decisions about you have never once held doubt.”

Claudia exhaled. “Well, that’s good to know, got to tell you, but still, I don’t-“

“Their love and care for you will not change when you decide to take over, Claudia. There will be a shift here and there in how things are done but never doubt the family you have gotten out of this will be no more. You are unique. They are unique.”

And for a very brief second in her life, Claudia was speechless.

“There will be much harder things to come, to contemplate. You will be around for the agents that come after them and that…that I cannot pretend will not cause you pain but for now, Claudia, it is my place to displace the worries that should not be present.”

“What’s going to change then?” Claudia asked softly.

“What you want to change, your schedule, how parts of your time are spent, and I would hope, your ability to feel at ease coming to me with your doubts and concern, knowing I will not judge you.”

“That…” Claudia struggled a moment, a fluttering of emotion spinning inside of her, a desire to fight this, to claim everything Mrs. Frederic had noted was wrong, but she shut it down and pushed it away, because she was working on growth in other places still, and what remained acknowledged that this was something she needed. “…would be appreciated.”

“You will never be an outsider, Claudia. That is not your way.”

Claudia smirked at her, feeling a little lighter. Despite Mrs. Frederic’s usual demeanor, Claudia had adapted to feeling at ease with the other woman, she’d even caught on to her sense of humor and felt honored in some ways. “That’s a nice way of saying I’m persistent, isn’t it?”

“It is what it is.” Mrs. Frederic lightly touched the back of her own hair and smoothed it down. “When you become caretaker time will move in ways you will not be prepared for, years that feel slower and then quicker. Time has a strange way of working even outside of these walls. Blink and it is gone. Blink and it drags.”

“An illusion,” Claudia added.

“At times, I’m sure Agent Lattimer would attend to that during his lunch break.”

Claudia laughed freely, having picked up that Mrs. Frederic didn’t always shy away from such appreciations.

“You were not intentionally at fault for the artifact mishap with Endel Tulving’s glasses.”

“But…?” Claudia said, sensing the addendum. 

“Being tied to the Warehouse even a little can work as a two way street.”

“Meaning?”

“The Warehouse sensed your longing, your desire for your friends, for knowing what they were doing while you were not there. A need for insight into their lives.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Claudia gaped. She shook her head back and forth in disbelief. “Oh!” she gasped and then repeated the phrase that shot forward in her mind from one particular new memory with her best Artie impression, her brow furrowing as she did, “You have to be metaphysically predisposed. And the external energies, they have to be in alignment. This is just a convergence thing.” 

“Exactly,” Mrs. Frederic nodded. “The moment you had touched the artifact by accident, you were connected with the Warehouse, it sensed your desire and without meaning to, a convergence of energy occurred and quickly lost control. The memories of the Warehouse came into present life through the glasses, focusing on your want.”

Claudia stepped back from the railing and held her hands up. “Is it even safe for me to be in here then?”

“Alignment is rare, Claudia. It would not happen so soon again. You are safe.”

“I’m going to take your word on that.”

“There have been worse alignments to occur then merely a walk down memory lane.”

“You make it sound so leisurely, Mrs. F.”

“I’m sure, for a while it was, vulnerable moments and cues spiking up in the original places of those memories. A peak into the past of those you care about.”

“Alice, MykaAlice, was walking around here freely with her mayhem and her murder eyes-“

“An anomaly,” Mrs. Frederic supplied.

Claudia bit her lip and then whispered, “I actually think that word means something else now.”

“It was not the definition of horrific, this should no longer be a weight on your shoulders. The others will not blame you. In fact, it will probably be best you explain it to them yourselves, Agent Wells’ patience is still-“

“In progress,” Claudia added lightly. “No, I know, they won’t blame me, but they will be curious soon.”

“Good, then may I suggest that before the proposed pizza party for tonight-“

“You’re coming?” she asked in surprise.

“I already put my order in.” Mrs. Frederic raised her eyebrows up. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no, no, just…I just didn’t think you were into pizza.”

“Not always an outsider, Claudia. There is much for you to learn. And speaking of that, I suggest it is time I show you part of the fun side of your future, when you choose to take it on.”

“The fun side?”

“A little peace and quite and change of scenery will do you good before tonight.”

“I was kind of thinking that,” she replied, her tone guilty. “It felt weird wanting some space after…after apparently indirectly playing a part in the events because I was sick of space.”

“An hour or two will do you good, how do some hot springs sound?”

“What-“ Claudia began but never finished. The rest of her sentence never coming to land in the air of the Warehouse and in it’s place she learned just how sneaky Mrs. Frederic was and why. 

And that when she was to eventually be caretaker she was totally going to get a kick out of the transporting thing.

It was definitely something to look forward too. 

Beat the zip line any day. 

 

 

“Are these supplies for one pizza party or the pizza party of the year?” Claudia asked appearing behind Steve as he laid out plates and utensils on a table lined with bowls of snacks, candies and party favors.

Steve tensed up and after five seconds he ground out, “Claudia, you can’t just sneak up on people like that.”

“I dunno,” Claudia patted him lightly on the shoulder and stood beside him. “It’s kind of the next part in my training.”

Steve groaned. “Help to us all.”

“Hardy-har-har, but for real, Jinksy, this looks a little overboard.” She picked up a party hat and pulled on the string.

“Don’t ruin that,” he slapped her hand away. “That’s Mrs. Frederic’s.”

“Really?”

“Well, I’ve picked it out for her, I like to think it is.”

Claudia smiled at the thought of Mrs. F wearing the florescent dotted paper hat.

“Hey,” Steve continued. “She might just wear it.”

“You’re right, who are we to guess.”

“Although, she’ll probably come with her own party hat, vintage, no doubt.”

Claudia poked him in his ribs gently. “Was that a joke, do my ears deceive me?”

Steve made an effort to appear disaffected, the easy smile on his face comically hardening. “I don’t know what you are referring too.”

“Sure.”

“But, yes, this is a little much, you can thank Pete for that, he and H.G. got back from town an hour ago with all the supplies.”

“Important question then-“

“Yes, they brought back that ice cream cake you love.”

“You all know me so well.”

Steve chuckled. “We do. I’m glad you are here, you disappeared a little while ago and I wasn’t sure-“

“I’d never miss this,” Claudia intoned.

“Good.”

“Where is everyone then?” 

“Pete’s in the kitchen watching the pizzas keep warm. Abigail went for a quick walk.”

“Speaking of Abigail,” she interrupted. “Did she buy whatever story you and Myka made up about why we were acting so strange?

Steve shook his head. “I think she politely bought it but she’s more concerned with Pete’s sudden fear and obsession with quicksand.”

Claudia threw her head back with a laugh. 

“And Myka is in the shower and Helena is reading in the study by the way.”

“Oh, really, when you said H.G. went into town with Pete for supplies, I was kind of surprised. Myka and her didn’t appear to be leaving their room anytime soon when I was here.”

Steve looked down at the table and meticulously focused on folding napkins. “Yes, they have up until recently been…occupied.”

“Wasn’t Myka supposed to be taking it easy?”

“I’m sure H.G. was helping her take it easy. Doctor’s orders.” He raised both his eyebrows with a rare wiggle.

Claudia flicked him with her finger on his hip. “Look who pulled a second joke out so soon, don’t strain yourself, you’re on rest duty as well.”

Steve knocked her gently with his hip. “At least they were quiet about it.”

“True, if all it takes is doctor’s orders, maybe we need to confer with Vanessa.”

Steve groaned. “Okay, now it’s getting weird.”

Claudia shrugged easily.

“Vanessa and Artie are on their way back too though.”

“Artie wants in on the pizza party?” she asked.

“I think it’s more of a Vanessa thing.”

“She is the sweet one in that duo.”

“Claudia, we’ve been over this, I’m not referring to them as Sweet ‘n Sour.”

“That was one time,” Claudia scoffed. “It was not my best moment, believe me I’m working on a better name.”

“Please don’t share it when you do.”

“I will make sure too.”

“But speaking of them, I figure we should maybe go over our alibis for this weekend, make sure we all know our stories to say what we did this weekend if Artie asks.”

Claudia’s jaw dropped. “Wow, Jinksy, already thinking of our cover plan. You really have adapted.”

“You have no idea. I have also elected to use some sensitive information only I know as a one time blackmail deal in the future.”

Watching him keenly, she caught the knowing look in his eye. “You know what that ‘anomaly’ was with Pete and H.G., don’t you?”

“I do.”

“Going to share?”

He shook his head no and smirked at her. “But I will be using it to keep Pete in line next time we’re on a mission and he senior picks where we get to eat.”

“You’ve changed, Steve,” Claudia said mock seriously.

He raised his finger up at her. “I said a one time deal. I am not heartless.”

“I’m so proud, how quickly you have learned our ways,” she gushed and pulled him into a half over the shoulder hug.

“Okay, I’m not still the new guy, it’s been years.”

“I’ll have to talk it over with the rest of the group, but I will see if I can get your status changed.”

Steve slipped her arm off and rolled his eyes.

“But listen,” Claudia began earnestly. “Save that one time blackmail for a while, because I think your next mission should be a chance for the second A Team to be reunited.”

He stopped folding napkins and matched her gaze with a cautious smile. “Really?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, I talked it over with Mrs. F.”

The grin that Steve flashed her was instant relief and Claudia thought for a second he was going to cry. She grabbed a napkin just in case and reached up but he pushed the napkin away.

“I’m okay, it’s just,” he exhaled as he smiled at her. “There are only so many food trucks a guy can take.”

Claudia tapped him on his forehead and pushed him away lightly. “And here I was thinking it was the thought of my company that was bringing such joy and not the lack of food trucks.”

He picked her up in a quick tight hug before stepping back. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” she nodded back. “And-“

A loud angry yell interrupted her, the growled shout bellowing from upstairs and echoing through the whole house. “HELENA!” 

“Myka,” Claudia said in shock.

“It doesn’t sound like she’s taking it easy any more,” Steve added tentatively. 

Frantic stomping could be heard upstairs.

“I should go check that out,” Claudia motioned her hands towards the stairs. 

“HELENA WELLS!” 

Steve started to fold napkins again. “Sounds good and if it’s okay with you, I will stay right here.”

“Survival instincts, you coward.”

She raced towards the stairs only to meet Pete on the way with a look of concern. Wordlessly, they made it to the top of the stairs and Claudia noticed Helena calmly walking behind them.

“What did you do?” she asked turning around on the step.

Helena stared blankly at them a moment before smiling the diet version of her predator chic.

“Why do you think I did something?”

Loud grumbling and insults containing the author’s name were blaring from the room Myka was stomping around it.

“Oh, nothing really,” Claudia replied sarcastically.

“H.G?” Pete asked.

Myka stormed out of the room, her hair wet from the shower she had just gotten out of, her face angry, redness blotching her cheeks, the tone of the spots not all the same and Claudia thought below the anger she saw a tinge of embarrassment. Her clothes were sticking out at odd angles, no doubt thrown on in haste. Myka stood silently fuming, her hand clenching at her side as she narrowed her eyes at Helena. 

“Oh…” Myka sputtered and pointed her finger harshly in the air. “You…oh…”

Helena remained perfectly unaffected.

“Myka, are you okay?” Pete asked.

“I’m…oh…I’m…” she continued to huff and then took a deep breath. “I’m going to get you back for this, Wells.”

“Myka, darling,” Helena placated a little too heavily. 

Myka’s sharp gaze moved from Helena to land on Pete and she pulled him forward towards his room. “Pete, remember when you told me we owed Helena some of her dues.”

Pete gulped but allowed himself to be dragged. 

“Myka,” Helena called cordially. “Do not do anything rash.”

“You started this Wells. It’s on you.”

“Darling, what about the vibrating ones, they must be useful for-“

Helena was cut off as Myka slammed the door to Pete’s room behind them.

Bewildered, Claudia looked to Helena who wore a bemused smile.

“Again, seriously, what did you do?”

Helena shrugged and turned to head back down the stairs with a devious look. “If you could remind them not to dawdle, Claudia, I know how Myka hates cold pizza.”

Stuck in her confusion, Claudia remained standing at the top of the stairs before she took a chance and shuffled forward, her eyes cautiously glancing into Myka and Helena’s room. Nothing was out of place from normal. The bed was surprisingly made considering but on top of it was a pile of something new.

Stepping into the room, Claudia laughed out loud at what she saw. Clearly, H.G. had gone into town to pick up supplies of her own. Piled on the bed was an assortment of brand new toothbrushes of different sizes and colors and a few…vibrating ones. She picked up one of the large ones and read the package.

Regular old hygienic toothbrushes.

“This is a joke right, H.G.,” she called back down the stairs as she popped back into the hall. She laughed to herself. “Man, I hope no percentage of this is not a joke, no matter how little.”

The toothbrush in her hand started to vibrate and Claudia screeched throwing the item back into the room towards the bed. 

“Psst, Claudia,” Pete’s voice rang down the hall.

She turned to see Pete and Myka sticking their heads out of the door.

“Claudia,” Myka whispered. “Come on, we’re going need you on this payback.”

“You want to prank H.G. back?” She asked with a smile.

“Yes,” Myka nodded firmly.

“You down?” Pete asked.

She looked at their hopeful faces and was already walking towards his room before she even answered.

“Unquestionably, yes. Yes, yes, yes.”

She shuffled through the door, her mind flashing forward to images of Helena’s reactions to what she was already thinking of.

Oh, it was going to be a good memory for sure.

It would be marked in history for the ages.


End file.
